December 17, 2007
Young Ones to Watch in New Year

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Donald YoungThe 2008 season is less than two weeks away and there are five teenagers in the 2007 year-end South African Airways ATP Rankings Top 100 who are looking to make a bigger impact. The five teenagers (listed by age) come from three different continents:

Donald Young (18 years, 4 months) -- The left-hander from Atlanta, Georgia (pictured left) is the youngest player to finish in the Top 100 (at No. 98) and he compiled solid Challenger results (34-14 mark) with one title and four other finals. Young, who captured the Wimbledon junior title in July, made the second-biggest ranking jump into the Top 100, climbing 386 positions from the previous year. He worked his way up through success in Futures level tournament before capturing his first Challenger title in Aptos (d. Reynolds) during the summer. He posted his first ATP match win in New Haven in August before losing in three sets to No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and he reached the third round at the US Open, falling to Feliciano Lopez in four sets. Following the US Open, he reached four Challenger finals -- Tulsa (l. to Witten), Calabasas (l. to Kendrick), Louisville (l. to Bachinger) and Champaign (l. to Levine).

Marin Cilic (19 years, 2 months) -- The Croat finished in the Top 100 (at No. 71 from No. 173) for the first time with a combination of success in ATP and Challenger level play. The second-youngest player in the year-end Top 100 reached one ATP semifinal and quarterfinal in two other tournaments. He won a career-high 14 ATP matches and went 16-5 in Challengers with two titles. He also qualified into six ATP level events during the year. In April, he won the Casablanca Challenger title (d. Bolelli) and one month later captured the crown at Rijeka Challenger (d. Lacko). On grass, he advanced to the quarterfinals at Queen's (d. Henman, l. to eventual winner Roddick). In his last four tournaments, he won at least one round, reaching the quarterfinals in Beijing (d. No. 4 Davydenko, l. to Kiefer), 2nd RD in Tokyo, Moscow and semifinals in St. Petersburg (d. Davydenko again, l. to Verdasco). He earned a career-high $215,750.

Juan Martin del Potro (19 years, 2 months) -- The Argentine, five days older than Cilic, improved his year-end ranking for a third straight year (from No. 91 to No. 44)and finished as the youngest player in the Top 50 at 19 years, 2 months. He won a career-high 28 matches and opened the season with his first ATP semifinal in Adelaide (l. to Guccione). In March, he advanced to the 4th RD at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, posting wins over Bjorkman, No. 18 Baghdatis and No. 17 Youzhny (l. to Nadal). On grass, he reached the 2nd RD at Queen's (l. to Nadal), quarterfinals in Nottingham (l. to Karlovic) and 2nd RD at Wimbledon (l. to Federer). During the summer hard court circuit, he advanced to the 3rd RD at AMS Cincinnati (d. Canas, l. to Moya) and at the US Open (l. to Djokovic)...In October at AMS Madrid, he defeated No. 9 Robredo for first Top 10 win en route to the 3rd RD (l. to eventual champ Nalbandian). He earned a career-high $393,660.

Ernests Gulbis (19 years, 3 months) -- The Latvian put his country on the tennis map as he compiled consistent ATP level and Challenger results to finish in the Top 75 (at No. 61) for the first time in his career. He won a personal-best 10 matches in ATP play and went 23-4 in Challengers with three titles. In February, he captured the Besancon (France) crown (d. Roger-Vasselin) and following month added the title in Sarajevo (d. Mertl). On clay, he made his Roland Garros debut and defeated Henman (l. to Montanes in 2nd RD). In his first US Open main draw appearance, he advanced to the 4th RD (d. No. 8 Robredo, l. to Moya). In October, he won the Mons Challenger title without dropping a set (d. Vliegen) and broke into the Top 50 afterwards (from No. 57 to No. 46). He closed the season with a quarterfinal showoing in St. Petersburg (l. to Cilic). He earned a career-high $272,385.

Evgeny KorolevEvgeny Korolev (19 years, 10 months) -- The Russian native (pictured left) won a career-high 20 ATP matches while finishing in the Top 100 for the second straight season (at No. 83. He broke through to reach his first ATP semifinal and advanced to the quarterfinals in three other tournaments. In January, he reached the quarters in Sydney, losing to eventual champion Blake. Two months later, he advanced to the semifinals in Las Vegas, defeating No. 6 Blake and Querrey en route (l. to Melzer). He followed with best showing in an ATP Masters Series tournament, 3rd RD in Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic). On clay, he reached the quarterfinals in Valencia (l. to Navarro). On grass in Halle he lost to No. 8 Blake in the 2nd RD. He made his Wimbledon debut and lost to countryman and No. 4 Davydenko in the opening round. He returned to clay in July and advanced to the quarterfinals in Amersfoort (l. to Youzhny). His best result the rest of the season was the quarters in Metz in October (l. to Canas). He earned a career-high $248,000.