The semifinals of the Hall Of Fame Tennis Championships are set after Donald Young,Ivo Karlovic and Gilles Muller found convincing wins on Friday.
The tournament is held in Newport on the grass courts of the Tennis Hall of Fame,where the ball’s bounce is very low and suits the old school serve and volley game.
26 year-old Donald Young marked his best win of the season over top seed Steve Johnson,ranked 29th, 6-2 6-3. Young saved all the five break points faced and hit eight aces to reach his first ATP semifinal on grass.
“Steve and I know each other well, we train together in the off-season, so there are no mysteries there. I tried to dictate with my serve and forehand,” Young said. “It’s been a light, fun week. I’m very happy. Most importantly I feel like I am serving and returning well, starting the points off on the right foot. I saw him adjusting his toss due to the sun. He has a great serve so that worked in my favour a bit.”
He will face Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller,who continued his great grass court season by beating sixth seeded Adrian Mannarino from France 2-6 6-1 6-2 with 16 aces. The Frenchman dominated the first set,returning Muller’s serve really well and winning 77% of service points,but things changed quickly in the second,where he won just two points on return and was broken twice. After saving a break point in the beginning of the decider,Muller converted his two chances to close out the match 2-6 6-1 6-2. He will play his third singles semifinals on grass of 2016,after s-Hertogenbosch(F) and Nottingham(SF).
Another serve and volleyer,Ivo Karlovic,reached his third straight Newport semifinals ousting the Swiss player Marco Chiudinelli 6-3 6-4 hitting 16 aces. The Croatian put into play 72% of his first serves and converted both break points earned(one per set),while Chiudinelli,who has a very solid game on grass,could not get any chance on return. In the semifinals,Karlovic will meet the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis,who eliminated Dudi Sela on Thursday.
Quarterfinals results:
D.Young[8] def S.Johnson[1] 6-2 6-3
G.Muller[3] def A.Mannarino[6] 2-6 6-1 6-2
M.Baghdatis[4] def D.Sela[7] 6-2 7-5
I.Karlovic[2] def M.Chiudinelli 6-3 6-4
