Former world No. 1 Marat Safin continued his slow climb back toward the top of the rankings with a 6-3, 6-4 win over John Isner in the first round of the Countrywide Classic on Tuesday.
Safin faced only one break point, in the final game of the match.
Safin, 28, seeded No. 5 in this 28-player ATP Tour event, started the season with a five-match losing streak and dropped to No. 93 in the rankings before reversing the trend by reaching the quarterfinals at Munich in late April. His ranking as of Tuesday was 44.
PHOTO: AP
Meanwhile American Donald Young broke a four-match losing streak in impressive fashion by upsetting two-time event champion Tommy Haas of Germany 6-2, 6-4 in a first-round match.
Young, 19, a former world No. 1 junior now ranked No. 100, got his fourth service break of the match in the ninth game of the second set to position himself to serve out the match. He won after the 40th-ranked Haas hit a forehand wide.
Haas, the No. 8 seed who won the tournament in 2004 and 2006, made repeated errors on his forehand.
Young, who had won just one of his past nine matches on the tour, played solidly from the baseline and served well enough that he faced only two break points despite a half-dozen double faults. He won five straight games after Haas held serve to open the match and took the final three after Haas held to go up 4-3 in the second set.
“This has to be at the top of my wins,” said Young, who beat No. 26 Feliciano Lopez earlier this year at Indian Wells.
“It was really important to get a win. My tennis hasn’t been going that well this summer and I’ve got high expectations of myself. Late in the match I got real nervous. I just told myself, ‘Put the serve in and make him play, make him beat you,’” he said.
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