2008 COUNTRYWIDE CLASSIC AUGUST 4 – 10, 2008, UCLA CAMPUS, LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA – Day 2

American Donald Young pulled off one of the biggest upsets of his young career on Tuesday night, beating two-time Countrywide Classic champion and No. 8 seed Tommy Haas of Germany, 6-2, 6-4, in the first of two featured night matches. In the late match, former world No. 1 Carlos Moya needed three sets to beat Xavier Malisse, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (5), in a match that didn’t end till until 11:45 p.m. Pacific time.

There was once a time when U.S. tennis fans wondered how long it would take the 19-year-old Young, who turned pro at the age of 15, t o win his first match on the ATP tour. After going back to the junior level and winning Wimbledon last year, the wins slowly started coming for Young, who captured the first ATP match win of his pro career at the Pilot Pen in New Haven, Conn., last August.

He then made it into the third round at the U.S. Open and played well enough to see his world ranking climb 386 spots into the top 100. This year, his best results have been a quarterfinals showing at Memphis and getting to the third round of the Masters Series event at Indian Wells.

In a matchup of the two of the tallest players in the tournament, 6-foot-4 Marat Safin served his way past 6-foot-9 John Isner, 6-3, 6-4, in a first-round match. Safin is coming off a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon last month where he lost to No. 1 Roger Federer. He will next take on left-hander Wayne Odesnik in the second round. Odesnik beat fellow American Bobby Reynolds, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Donald Young – USA

Vincent Spadea – USA

In other first-round matches Tuesday, American Vince Spadea beat Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Dusan Vemic of Serbia downed former Stanford No.1 Sam Warburg 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4; and qualifier Andrea Stoppini of Italy got past Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-1, 6-3.
Spadea, 34, draws No. 6 seed Mardy Fish today in a match to begin not before 4 p.m. Spadea lost to James Blake here in last year’s quarterfinals. In Wednesday’s only evening singles match it will be Safin against Odesnik.

The Countrywide Classic legends event will begin today with Jimmy Arias playing Mikael Pernfors while Aaron Krickstein will face Wayne Ferreira in the other quarterfinal. The winners of those matches will then face former World No. 1s and Grand Slam champions John McEnroe and Jim Courier in Thursday’s semifinals. The final will be played on Friday.

For questions or comments email Steve at steve@tennisnews.com

RESULTS – TUESDAY, AUGUST 05, 2008
SINGLES FIRST ROUND
[5] M Safin (RUS) d John Isner (USA) 6-3 6-4
[7] Carlos Moya (ESP) d [WC] Xavier Malisse (BEL) 6-2 1-6 7-6(5)
Donald Young (USA) d [8] Tommy Haas (GER) 6-2 6-4
Wayne Odesnik (USA) d Bobby Reynolds (USA) 4-6 6-1 6-4
Vincent Spadea (USA) d Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) 6-3 3-6 6-3
[Q] Andrea Stoppini (ITA) d Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) 6-1 6-3
[LL] Dusan Vemic (SRB) d [Q] Sam Warburg (USA) 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4
[Q] Amer Delic (USA) d Dudi Sela (ISR) 6-4 6-4

DOUBLES FIRST ROUND
Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) / Fabio Fognini (ITA) d [4] Rik de Voest (RSA) / Bobby Reynolds (USA) 6-2, 6-4
Chris Haggard (RSA) / Stephen Huss (AUS) d Todd Perry (AUS) / Rogier Wassen (NED) 6-0 ret. (Perry neck)