NEW YORK -- Donald Young is winning a lot of fans at the U.S. Open.
The American rallied from two sets down for the second time in three rounds to match his best run at a major. Young stunned 22nd-seeded Viktor Troicki 4-6, 0-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-4 in 3 hours, 33 minutes Saturday to reach the fourth round at the U.S. Open.
“It was 90 percent you guys, 10 percent me,” he told the fans at the Grandstand in an on-court interview.
Another assist came from the trainer who “worked some magic” on his lower back after he failed to win a game in the second set.
“I was able to continue and fight,” Young said, “and somehow I was able to pull it out. I still don’t know how, but I’ll take it.”
He added he has been “killing it, doing everything possible” in the gym to ensure his conditioning will allow him to win matches like this one.
“It was a weak point for most of my career,” Young said, “and it was something you have full control over, so I wasn’t going to let that hold me back anymore.”
Before Tuesday, the 68th-ranked Young had been 0-17 in his career when dropping the first two sets. Now he’s made that comeback twice in five days. Young was down two sets and a break against 11th-seeded Gilles Simon in the first round.
After failing to win a game in the second set Saturday, Young had treatment on his lower back and took control of the match from then on.
Young again had a boisterous crowd behind him on one of Flushing Meadow’s cozier show courts. He won on Court 17 in the first two rounds, coming back from down a set to win in four Thursday. On Saturday, the fans were chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” for him on the bigger Grandstand.
Young also made the fourth round at the 2011 U.S. Open.