Americans Johnson, Young Push Into Citi Quarterfinals; Top Seed Berdych Bounced

August 1, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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A day after Steve Johnson knocked off the 6’10” John Isner at the Citi Open in Washington D.C., the unseeded American took down 6’11” Croatian Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(7) to move into the tournament’s quarterfinals.

“Second day in a row [I had] to play somebody with a massive serve,” said Johnson. “I was just lucky enough to take care of business in the second and third today on my own serve and get it to two [tiebreakers]. In a tiebreaker, anything can happen.”

Johnson is now 4-1 in sets decided by tiebreakers this week. His defense and return game has been the key to this run as he has withstood some powerful serves from his last two opponents. On Wednesday, Isner ripped 29 aces at Johnson and Karlovic hit 27 aces on Thursday without facing a single break point.

In the deciding third-set tiebreaker, Johnson had to fight off two match points to even it at 6-6. After a Karlovic double-fault, Johnson hit a forehand winner into the corner to seal the victory and reach his fifth career quarterfinal.

“You put in a lot of hard work on the practice courts and a lot of hard work throughout the year to see it kind of pay off and to see the results happening now,” said Johnson. “Hopefully I can go strong the second half of the year, that’d be great.”

The 24-year old American will take on second-seed Milos Raonic for a spot in the semifinals. The Canadian Raonic squeaked by Lleyton Hewitt 7-6(1), 7-6(3) on Thursday, utilizing an effective serve to get past the 2004 champion. Raonic notched points on 72 percent of his serve and ripped 29 aces to come out on top in each tiebreaker.

“I’m happy with a lot of things about the win today, especially the way I was able to fight through the important games,” said Raonic. “I was able to find my rhythm well at the end of each set. He made it difficult for me. The right attitude really got me through today in the key moments.”

Raonic is now the highest-seed remaining in the draw after top-seed Tomas Berdych was beat late Thursday night by Raonic’s countryman, Vasek Pospisil. The 36th ranked player in the world cruised past Berdych 6-2, 6-4 in 81 minutes to advance, breaking the Czech’s serve four times on his way to the straight set victory.

Pospisil will meet 10th seeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo after Giraldo beat the Dominican Republic’s Victor Estrella Burgos.

American Donald Young worked his way into the quarterfinals as well, taking down 15th seeded Denis Istomin  6-3, 3-6, 6-3. It is his second consecutive win over a seeded player at the tournament. He draws a matchup with seventh-seeded South African Kevin Anderson, who disposed of Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday.

The other quarterfinal bout to be played on Friday will be between fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan and sixth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Nishikori knocked off Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko and Gasquet disposed of American Tim Smyczek.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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