TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- American John Isner claimed his first championship of the 2009 season after defeating Donald Young 7-5, 6-4 in the final of the USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger Presented by Comcast at Forestmeadows.
“It’s hard to win a tournament, especially in a field like this,” Isner said. “It’s not every week you are going to go out and win five consecutive matches, and, in a field as tough as this one, it is definitely an honor.”
The first set went back and forth, with both players holding serve until 5-5. On Young’s serve, Isner was able to capitalize on his second break chance to take the lead 6-5. Young was able to save one set point, but Isner’s serve proved to be too much, as the former Bulldog pulled out the set 7-5.
“[Donald] had some chances to break me because I started off a little slow,” Isner said. “I was fortunate to get out of some jams on my serve, and that helped me gain momentum. Once I got a look at a break point, I played a pretty good point and converted.”
Isner earned his second break of the match up 3-2 in the second. The All-American put the pressure on, causing Young to make two critical errors and lose the game. Young had one chance to break Isner back at 4-3, but he was not able to earn the point. Isner served out the match with his eighth, ninth and 10th aces of the match, followed by Young hitting a forehand long.
“I had some tough matches here, and I was fortunate at times to persevere,” Isner said. “I had to play well all week, and luckily I was able to play well in the finals.”
In the doubles championship match, No. 1-seeded Americans Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky defeated Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski, 6-1, 6-4. Like they had done all week, Butorac and Lipsky started quickly, breaking the duo from Great Britain at 2-1. At 5-1, 40-40, Lipsky served out the set with an ace.
“It’s important to get a quick start, especially with the scoring in doubles the way it is now,” Lipsky said. “Once you get down, it is hard to get that momentum back, so it was good that we got a good start.”
It looked like Fleming and Skupski were going to take control of the second set, racing out to a 3-0 lead. At 4-2 in the second, the top-seeded Americans were able to get the break back and went on to win the last four games of the set to take home the title.
“Eric and I clicked well together, considering this is our first week playing together,” Lipsky said. “I’m happy we won, and we’re playing together for a few more weeks, so hopefully we’ll keep it going.”
“Right from the start, I felt like we played really good tennis, and we also improved with each match,” Butorac said. “We’re starting an eight- or nine-tournament circuit together, and we wanted to come to a nice tournament where we thought we would play well and see if we could get some good chemistry. We played better each match and today played our best tennis yet, so that is a good start.”