Ryan Harrison had a confidence-boosting week, even if the 19-year-old lost in the semifinals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships on Saturday.
Harrison became the first American teenager to advance to the semifinals of an ATP World Tour event since Sam Querrey in Indianapolis in 2007.
"It's disappointing to go out but hopefully it's the first of many semifinals," Harrison said. "I look forward to next week."
Harrison has big goals. He wants to reach No. 1. He wants to win rand slams. Reaching his first semifinal is a good start. He earned enough points to move into the top 100 when the new rankings come out Monday. He will be one of two teens in the top 100. As he pointed out, he can't reach the top unless he reaches the top 100 first.
"That's a big milestone for anyone to accomplish," he said. "It will be exciting to see my name there next week."
Mardy Fish, who eliminated Harrison in two sets, predicted after the match that Harrison would be inLos Angeles, site of the next tournament, on Monday already practicing. That work ethic is why Fish has high hopes for Harrison's future.
"It's important to know that he's doing the right things," Fish said. "He's still very young. It's a mid-20s to late-20s-type game now. It's very physical. You have to be very fit. Some of the younger kids aren't that strong throughout an entire year. But he's got a great work ethic. He'll do the right things. At the same time, it's also important to know that you're a long way."
Harrison said he learned a lot in his short match against Fish, the No. 9 ranked player in the world. The biggest lesson is the top players don't give up easy points, which is a lesson he's trying to learn. Overall, he enjoyed his week.
"It's confidence-building," he said. "I'm looking forward to moving on and trying to have a good L.A. next week."
Doubles final
Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Matthew Ebden won the doubles portion of the Atlanta Tennis Championships, defeating Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser 3-6, 7-5, 10-8.
It was the first doubles final for both tandems, though Ebden teamed with Harrison to win the doubles tournament two weeks ago in Newport, R.I.Harrison had promised to play doubles with Donald Young this week, so Ebden found a new partner. He said he hopes to team with Harrison in doubles at the U.S. Open later this year.
"Through this series I didn't plan on playing that much doubles," Ebden said. "We had a lot of fun with it and kept winning. The crowd was fun to play with. There was good energy."
The winning team will split $29,400.
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