24-year-old American Ryan Harrison defeated countryman Donald Young 6-4, 6-4 in Memphis to make his first tour-level final.
On Sunday, Harrison will play world No. 67 Nikoloz Basilashvili, who beat the tournament’s top seed, Ivo Karlovic, on Thursday.
@ryanharrison92 terrific to see you in final enjoy embrace build #carpediem
— Paul Annacone (@paul_annacone) February 19, 2017
Both players headed into the match with quite a bit of momentum, as Harrison had won the Dallas Challenger earlier in the month, and Young had beaten John Isner in a deciding-set tiebreak on Friday.
The match’s first four games stayed on serve, with Harrison bringing the score to 2-2 by slicing an ace out wide.
But in next game, Young missed a backhand into the net, giving Harrison the early break and a 3-2 lead.
Harrison then followed up by winning some quick points on his serve to go up 4-2.
Young, in his subsequent service game, made a statement by winning via three overhead smashes and two forehand winners, still trailing 3-4, down a break.
Then on Harrison’s serve, Young found himself at 30-40 with a break point, which Harrison eliminated with an unreturned serve. Harrison went on to hold for 5-3. His left-handed opponent then won the next game at love for 5-4.
Young, after (unsuccessfully) challenging an ace from Harrison, netted a forehand to hand Harrison the set 6-4.
The righty came out swinging in the second, flicking an inside-out forehand winner in the first point, on Young’s serve. Harrison then gave himself two break points by forcing an error on a backhand pass attempt. He converted on the second one.
Next, Harrison consolidated with successful challenge, a backhand winner, a forehand winner and an unreturned serve to go up 2-0.
Harrison later had two break points to take a 4-1 lead. He lost the first by missing a crosscourt forehand wide, but he won the second after Young missed a forehand long.
Young, down two breaks, had a break point of his own a game later, but Harrison saved it with a backhand pass down the line. Harrison held on for 5-1.
That’s where things got shaky.
At 5-2, when Harrison was serving for a spot in the final, Young hit a swinging forehand volley winner for 15-30. He then hit a backhand volley winner to give himself two break points, which Harrison took care of with forehand winner down the line and a free point off his serve. Young then missed a backhand volley off the net cord to give Harrison match point. The lefty then managed to salvage the game with two overheads and the help of a missed forehand from Harrison. 5-3.
Young served next, and he lost the first three points to go down 0-40 and give Harrison three more match points. Two inside-out forehand winners from Young and a miss long from Harrison brought the game to deuce, from which point a backhand into the net from Harrison and a swinging forehand volley winner from Young made the score 5-4.
Harrison, serving for the match a second time, was up 40-0 and had triple match point once again. This time, he converted on the first, hitting an ace out wide to win the match 4 and 4.
“It’s all surreal … I hit some obstacles in my career where I really wasn’t sure if I was ever gonna be able to do this again, so I’m just really happy,” Harrison said in his post-match interview.
