An all-American showdown will pit Steve Johnson against Donald Young on Friday in Newport. Left-handers Gilles Muller and Adrian Mannarino are also hoping to snag a spot in the semifinals.
(1) Steve Johnson vs. (8) Donald Young
Johnson and Young will be squaring off for the fourth time in their careers at the ATP level and for the fifth time overall when they meet again in the quarterfinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Friday. The head-to-head series is all tied up at two wins apiece, including 1-1 on hard courts and 1-1 on clay. Johnson beat Young for his first-ever victory on the main tour at the 2012 Atlanta event, and he also got the job done 7-5, 6-4 last year in Houston. Young survived 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) at the 2013 Aptos Challenger before prevailing 6-4, 6-3 earlier this season in Houston.
Fast forward three months since their most recent encounter and Johnson is arguably playing the best tennis of his life. The 25th-ranked American captured his first ATP title on the lawn of Nottingham before making a fourth-round run at Wimbledon, where he eventually fell to Roger Federer. Johnson earned a first-round bye in Newport and then took care of Yuichi Sugita 6-4, 6-4. Young has advanced to the quarters with straight-set routs of young Americans Jared Donaldson and Stefan Kozlov. The world No. 61 is a decent 10-12 for the year and coming off a second-round performances at Queen’s Club (as a qualifier) and Wimbledon. This should be a high-quality affair with both men in fine form, but Johnson’s edge in the serve and forehand departments will likely keep his hot streak alive.
Pick: Johnson in 3
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(3) Gilles Muller vs. (6) Adrian Mannarino
Both Muller and Mannarino are still in search of their first career ATP titles as they head into quarterfinal competition on Friday in Newport. For Muller, the fact that he has never lifted a winner’s trophy is especially surprising. The 33-year-old Luxembourgian has collected a total of 177 match wins since turning pro in 2001 and has reached four ATP finals, including last month in ‘s-Hertongenbosch (lost to Nicolas Mahut). Muller, who earned an opening bye as the No. 3 seed and No. 39 player in the world, beat Victor Estrella Burgos 7-6(7), 6-4 on Thursday.
Mannarino fought back from two breaks down in the first set against Sam Groth in the second round and ended up winning 7-6(6), 6-3. The 55th-ranked Frenchman preceded that result by outlasting James Duckworth 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 7-6(4) on Tuesday. Mannarino is displaying plenty of confidence as owner of a 21-16 record in 2016, but he has been playing with fire this week and he is running into a much more daunting opponent than his first two adversaries. On this surface, Muller’s wicked lefty serve should be the difference.
Pick: Muller in 3
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Stevie in three in what should be a great encounter and muller in two in what could be a very good match but I have a feeling he will win something like the scoreline of his match with Estrella Burgos. Also while Mannarino has a 21-16 season record Muller has an even better 21-14 record so I give him the edge. I could see it going three but I doubt mannarino wins. If muller has a really bad day Adrian can win but I don’t see it happening with Muller being so dangerous and tough on grass with his serve and usually tremendous grass court play.
Also I don’t give muller the edge because of the record I’m just bringing it up. Just think muller is a badass lol. Plus his grass season has been highly productive. I do think that loss against cuevas in Nottingham was a bit of a letdown but other than that he’s done pretty well. Wimby was disappointing but he was probably fatigued in his second round loss. Maybe he can finally get his first title this week. He’s probably gotta hope Baghdatis isn’t his final opponent because he seems to struggle against him though Karlovic wouldn’t be easy either. Still he beat Dr Ivo in Den Bosch so I’d prefer he played him or chiudinelli but no way chiudinelli is making the final. If he took down Mannarino who he’s 2-0 against he would play Johnson who he’s also 2-0 against or Young who he’s 1-1 against but would have to like his chances against on grass. I think he will play Stevie though. But Young beating Johnson wouldn’t surprise me either as he’s on a roll here in Newport.
Steve J in straight…he’s playing great right now….and Gilles in 3.
Young is 3
mannarino in 3
Both of these could come down to a 3rd set TB
Kind of shocked Sousa got beat so badly!
Yeah I knew Elias had a reasonable shot with a 3-2 H2H lead but I wouldn’t have expected that scoreline at all.
All of Sousa – Elias meetings were in 2012 and 2011. Since then, Sousa was on the rise and developed his career a lot better than Gastao. So this is a big suprise. Kudos to the two years younger Portuguese for playing an amazing match.
BTW, Young just opened the first set against Stevie J 4-1.
Yeah I chose Sousa because those matches were so long ago. Still Elias is an awesome clay player. Sousa is very good on clay too of course so yeah it’s pretty surprising. Especially that Elias won so easily.
Don Young is making this look very similar to their last encounter in Houston. Steve J either seems disinterested in bringing his top form, or just doesn’t have it today.
There goes the first set 6-2 Donald Young.
Stevie clearly doesn’t care. His body language isn’t there.
It almost seems Steve thinks that Donald ‘needs’ this match more than he does, and is just doing his compatriot and good buddy a solid by taking HIMSELF to the woodshed
I don’t think anyone has ever done that for Young
@Ricky Haha, a fair point. What would you say his issue was today?
Lol true. Donald is usually the one who takes himself to the woodshed.
DY is on fire though isn’t he. Sounds like Stevie didn’t play too well though. Nonetheless that’s a great win for Young.