US Open 2015: Donald Young bows out to Stan Wawrinka – as it happened

Stan Wawrinka moved into the quarter-finals with a comfortable four-set victory over Donald Young.

8.40pm BST

Young survives one match point when Wawrinka whaps a forehand wide, but not the second: a crisp backhand volley finishes the job. It was a pretty comfortable victory for Wawrinka, even if he went missing for most of the second set. There were some cracking shots as well as a stream of unforced errors. Wawrinka will probably need to play better if he is to win the quarter-final against Andy Murray or Kevin Anderson, however. Young’s brave US Open campaign is over. Thanks for your company. Night!

8.35pm BST

Fourth set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 5-4 Young (*denotes next server) My Grotesque Book of Sporting Cliches tells me that Young is at the point of no return. He holds serve easily, but now Wawrinka will serve for a place in the quarter-finals.

8.31pm BST

Fourth set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 5-3 Young* (*denotes next server) Wawrinka runs around a storming forehand to take the first point after a good rally. An ace and a backhand volley take him to 40-15, and a superb second serve finishes the game. Young will serve to stay in the match.

8.26pm BST

Fourth set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 4-3 Young (*denotes next server) All Young can do is hold serve and put pressure on Wawrinka, which he does in a slightly scruffy game.

@100ashesquotes Somehow I don't think it looks good for Donald, but I might be wrong. It's not over till it's over.

8.24pm BST

Fourth set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 4-2 Young* (*denotes next server) Wawrinka starts his service game with the kind of appallingly overhit forehand I’d be proud to call my own. He responds with a couple of punishing winners and then – at 30-30 – a fierce first serve. Another half-chance gone for Young, and now Wawrinka is two games away from the quarter-final.

8.20pm BST

Fourth set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 3-2 Young (*denotes next server) The crowd go if not wild then at least slightly less than orderly when Young produces a fine passing shot, and he eventually holds to 15. That’s the easy part; now he has to find a way to break.

8.17pm BST

Fourth set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 3-1 Young* (*denotes next server) Young has had a few half-chances on the Wawrinka serve, but he hasn’t taken half of them. There goes another, at 15-15, with an errant backhand. It’s the last chance he gets in that game.

In other news, crikey, an email! “That’s a good line in self-admonishment from Young, admittedly, but it still pales in comparison to Murray’s magnificent ‘I’m trying my tits off here!’ from the French Open a couple of years ago,” says Matt Dony. “Have these two fellas decided to take it in turns this match? Easy fourth set to Young?”

8.14pm BST

DY been to net 116 times in 1st 3 matches only 16 so far vs Stanimal

8.13pm BST

Fourth set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 2-1 Young (*denotes next server) Young has the best view from the precipice. If he is broken here it’s surely over. That looks probable at 30-30 before Young wins the last two points.

8.09pm BST

Fourth set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 2-0 Young* (*denotes next server) Wawrinka is hitting some brutal forehands, and holds to 15 with the minimum of fuss. Young’s body language suggests this might be a challenge too far.

8.07pm BST

Fourth set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 Young (*denotes next server) Wawrinka begins the fourth set with a return of almost laughable brilliance. Young needs to just stay in the contest for a couple of service games and then see what happens. But he’s in trouble at 15-30 after an excellent drop volley from Wawrinka. A slice into the net gives Wawrinka two break points, and he rams a backhand through the stretching Young. Brilliant stuff. This could be over very quickly.

8.01pm BST

Young gives himself a public dressing-down when he nets a return off the second serve. He doesn’t get another sniff as Wawrinka romps through the game to love, finishing the set with a majestic one-handed backhand. He leads by two sets to one, and Donald Young will have to go to the five-set well yet again if he wants to reach the quarter-finals.

Young, raging to himself: "That's such bullcrap, you absolute chump!"

7.59pm BST

Third set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 5-3 Young (*denotes next server) The crowd have stirred again. A long rally at 30-30 goes Young’s way when Wawrinka produces yet another unforced error. A moment ago it was 5-0; now it’s 5-3.

7.56pm BST

Third set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 5-2 Young* (*denotes next server) A lovely point from Young, one of the best of the match, gives him two break points. He nets the first but then Wawrinka wafts long to give Young a break. Is something brilliant happening?

7.51pm BST

Third set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 5-1 Young (*denotes next server) A comfortable service game for Young, though it means little: Wawrinka will now serve for a 2-1 lead.

7.48pm BST

Third set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 5-0 Young* (*denotes next server) Wawrinka holds to 15. Young is serving to

stay in the set
postpone the inevitable.

7.45pm BST

Third set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 4-0 Young (*denotes next server) Young has returned to his first-set passivity, and he is being taken apart in this set. A long backhand gives Wawrinka two break points. He only needs one. Young won the last five games of the second set; since then Wawrinka has won four in a row.

7.40pm BST

Third set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 3-0 Young* (*denotes next server) Wawrinka has gone up a level from the first set, and about four levels from the second. There is a hint of trouble at 30-30, but a smash and a big first serve put him 3-0 up.

7.37pm BST

Third set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 2-0 Young (*denotes next server) Anger is an energy, part 329841019: Wawrinka growls with pleasure after a backhand pass gives him an opening at 15-30. He works Young around the court to give himself two break points - and takes the first by smashing a backhand at the body of Young, who can only fend it into the net. A superb break, that.

7.33pm BST

Third set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 Young* (*denotes next server) Wawrinka looks in a foul mood, like a man who’s just realised somebody has nicked all his lovingly collected Lenny Kravitz vinyl. He holds to 30 nonetheless, finishing the job by running around an angry forehand.

This is what they get for stealing Donald's shoes.

7.28pm BST

Wawrinka seems to have mentally packed it in until the third set. His 471st unforced error – a long backhand - gives Young two set points. He takes the second to complete quite the turnaround. It’s one set apiece! Young was having no joy whatsoever on Wawrinka’s serve, then from nowhere he broke twice in a row.

7.25pm BST

Second set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-5 Young* (*denotes next server) It never ceases to amaze how quickly a sporting contest can change. That one double fault from Wawrinka, at 1-2 and 30-30, gave Young a sniff out of nothing. It also woke the crowd up. A long rally is won by Young after yet another Wawrinka error, and suddenly Young has two break points! An ace takes care of the first – but then Wawrinka nets a forehand! Young has broken again and is serving for the set.

7.21pm BST

Second set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-4 Young (*denotes next server) That break has changed the mood around Arthur Ashe: the crowd are suddenly much noisier, and a radged-off Wawrinka breaks his racket when Young takes the first point of the game. It swings from 30-0 to 30-30, and then Young roars “C’monnnnnnnnnn!” as Wawrinka makes a mess of a backhand. That’s his 22nd unforced error of the match, and his 23rd follows soon after. Young leads 4-1.

7.18pm BST

Second set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-3 Young* (*denotes next server) Young needs a moment on the Wawrinka serve – a great shot, or a long rally, to get him and the crowd going. This might be it: a double fault from Wawrinka gives Young his second break point of the match. And he takes it! Or, rather, Wawrinka gives it to him by slapping a forehand into the net. Young break for the first time!

7.13pm BST

Second set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 1-2 Young (*denotes next server) Young is not playing badly, but he’s been just a little passive. That said, he looks very comfortable on his serve at the moment and holds to love.

7.10pm BST

Second set: Wawrinka 6-4, 1-1 Young* (*denotes next server) The story of the match so far can be told in winners: Wawrinka 20-6 Young. Wawrinka roars through another service game, losing just one point. Young looks powerless against the serve at the moment.

7.08pm BST

Second set: *Wawrinka 6-4, 0-1 Young (*denotes next server) This is nothing new for Donald Young. He has lost the first set in all four of his games at this year’s US Open, and was two sets down to Gilles Simon and Viktor Troicki. This, however, is a different level entirely. Young starts the second set confidently, holding to 15.

7.04pm BST

Young has a chance to put Wawrinka under pressure but muffs a simple volley to lose the first point of the game. Wawrinka doesn’t give him another chance, holding to love with some formidable serving to take the first set in just over half an hour.

7.02pm BST

Donald Young always had the talent, it was just a matter of when, not if, he broke through: http://t.co/StMs2xZ5h9 #usopen

7.00pm BST

First set: *Wawrinka 5-4 Young (*denotes next server) Young is under serious pressure at 30-30, and responds with a lovely low cross-court forehand. Wawrinka successfully challenges an apparent ace at 40-30, but the game is over moments later when Wawrinka goes long. No matter: he will now serve for the first set.

6.56pm BST

First set: Wawrinka 5-3 Young* (*denotes next server) There are plenty of empty seats, and you suspect Young will need a bit more crowd fuel if he is to have a chance of winning this match. The crowd, as much as Young, might be able to rip Wawrinka from his comfort zone. For now he is cruising even while playing erratically; with the aid of another ace, he holds to love.

6.52pm BST

First set: *Wawrinka 4-3 Young (*denotes next server) Young holds to love. He looks comfortable on his serve now, after a nervous start, but he has only had one break point so far.

6.51pm BST

First set: Wawrinka 4-2 Young* (*denotes next server) Young is being bullied a little bit, though Wawrinka continues to make a Horlicks of some pretty routine shots. A couple of unforced errors give Young a glimmer of hope at 15-30; it is rapidly extinguished, and Young chunters to himself in frustration as Wawrinka holds.

“The biggest piece of the puzzle for Donald is he has to be unpredictable” –Jim Courier on Coach’s Corner segment on @TennisChannel pre-game

6.45pm BST

First set: *Wawrinka 3-2 Young (*denotes next server) A comfortable hold for Young. Wawrinka has been erratic thus far, with some storming shots and plenty of unforced errors.

6.43pm BST

First set: Wawrinka 3-1 Young* (*denotes next server) An errant backhand from Wawrinka gives Young a break point, and the crowd use their vocal chords for partisan purposes for the first time. He can’t take the chance, with Wawrinka punishing an indeterminate return on the second serve before going on to hold.

6.36pm BST

First set: *Wawrinka 2-1 Young (*denotes next server) A meek shot from Young is punished by a flashing backhand from Wawrinka. That’s 0-30, and a withering forehand gives Wawrinka three break points. He needs only one, with Young going long.

6.34pm BST

First set: Wawrinka 1-1 Young* (*denotes next server) Wawrinka wallops down the first ace of the match en route to a comfortable hold, despite a nice point for Young in which he worked Wawrinka around the court before advancing to finish with a crisp volley.

6.32pm BST

First set: *Wawrinka 0-1 Young (*denotes next server) Young wins the first game despite some nervous serving, with five faults. A series of unforced errors from Wawrinka meant he won comfortably to 15.

6.22pm BST

The players walk out to the intrusive strains of Lenny Kravitz’s 1993 spandex-rock game-changer Are You Gonna Go My Way? Young looks calm enough, hiding under colourful headphones.

6.20pm BST

Back in the Stanislas days, Stan Wawrinka lost 7-6 in the fifth to Donald Young at the U.S. Open. Will he be Stanislas or Stanimal today?

6.06pm BST

Azarenka has beaten Lepchenko, 6-3, 6-4, and is high on life as she conducts an apparently never-ending post-match interview. Young and Wawrinka will be on court soon. By sundown anyway, the way this interview is going. It’s sweltering, and not really the kind of day on which you want to go two sets down even if it is fast becoming a kind of unwitting superstition.

5.50pm BST

Hello. Imaginary studies show that a Grand Slam is 34.21 per cent more enjoyable when a player from the host country captures the nation - and the imagination - with an intrepid run to the final stages. Think Jimmy Connors at the US Open in 1991, Henri Leconte at the French Open in 1988, or that triumphant fortnight that no British tennis fan will ever forget: when Jeremy Bates reached the fourth round of Wimbledon ijn 1992 before a heartbreaking defeat to Guy Forget

There are two Americans remaining in the men’s singles this year: “Big” John Isner, who meets Roger Federer, and Donald Young. Young’s US Open

journey
story so far has had potential-ESPN-30-for-30-film-with-emotive-plinky-plonky-music written all over it. Before this tournament he had lost all 17 matches in which he had been two sets down. Then he came back from two down to beat the 11th seed Gilles Simon in the first round - and did it again to take care of Victor Troicki in the third. It’s enough to make you wonder: is something brilliant happening? (NB: Link contains adult language.)

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Published on September 07, 2015 12:44
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