Wawrinka Into Quarterfinals After Win Over Young in Flushing Meadows
Stan Wawrinka played another up and down match on Monday, but was able to overcome Donald Young in four sets, ending the American’s run with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory to advance to the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
The fifth-seeded Swiss and French Open champion got things going by breaking Young’s serve for a 3-1 lead in the opening set. From there, he was able to serve out the set, firing 17 winners in the process.
But in the second, Young responded like he has all-tournament long. The American took advantage of 14 unforced errors from Wawrinka and broke the Swiss’ serve twice on his way to a 6-1 set win.
In the third, Wawrinka quickly made sure this would not turn out to be another comeback from Young. He won the first five games of the set, breaking Young twice, and even after the American won three straight games to cut the deficit to 3-5, Wawrinka closed it out on serve.
He fired 18 of his 52 winners in the fourth set and was able to break Young twice which was all he needed, going on to wrap this one up in four sets and a little over two hours.
"I’m happy,” said Wawrinka. “I think I started the third set really right again. I was physically there trying to play again more aggressive like the way I started the match.”
Wawrinka’s aggressiveness was on display yet again. He hit 52 winners and 48 unforced errors, but was able to secure the breaks when he needed to in the third and fourth sets.
The loss ends a fine run for Young this past week, and the American will look to build on his three match wins in Flushing.
“I feel like things are coming around,” said Young. “I really feel like, you know, I’m ready to do it on a consistent level and not just do it for a while or work hard for a little bit and then relax. I’m looking forward to keeping it going.”
As for Wawrinka, he is now into his eighth straight Grand Slam quarterfinal. He plays the winner of the battle between the 15th-seeded South African Kevin Anderson and third-seeded Andy Murray.
