Nick Kyrgios’ BB&T Atlanta Open debut on Thursday will see him go up against Jared Donaldson after the 19-year-old American took care of Sam Groth 6-2, 6-4 in the first round on Monday afternoon. Donaldson fought off each of the break points he faced and broke the huge-serving Aussie three times to get the job done in one hour and five minutes.
“I feel like I’m playing really well,” the wild card commented. “I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. There are a lot of matches left in this tournament, hopefully, and a lot of matches left in the summer. I have confidence in the way I’m playing right now, that the way I’m playing is a good style and is working for me. But I’m always looking to improve.”
Thus continues a stellar start to the hard-court summer for Donaldson, who successfully qualified and reached the second round in Washington, D.C. before qualifying again in Toronto and advancing to the third round. He will soon hope to take his hot streak to another level at the expense of the second-seeded Kyrgios.
“I felt like I used the conditions to my advantage and played a really solid match,” Donaldson said after defeating Groth. “It will be definitely a challenging match (against Kyrgios) but I feel I’m in a good position to give him a good match, also.”
Donald Young also punched a ticket to the last 16 by saving two match points to overcome fellow American Austin Krajicek 3-6, 7-6(10), 7-5. Young, an Atlanta native and resident who had not won a match at his home tournament since 2010, also recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the third set before triumphing in two hours and 33 minutes.
“I started off quite nervous,” the No. 7 seed admitted. “He was playing well. He was serving well, he was volleying; he played a little different than I expected. He was keeping the pressure on and making me come up with shots.
“I didn’t want to go out like that. I didn’t want Monday to be my last day at the tournament and have to watch it from my window.”
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