Big-serving American John Isner captured his second career ATP title after skipping his brother’s wedding to beat Belgium’s Olivier Rochus 6-3 7-6 in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championship final on Sunday.
The towering American blasted 22 aces past Rochus, 38cm shorter than his opponent, to become the first top seed to win the grasscourt tournament in Newport in 35 years.
Isner took a late wildcard into the event and missed his brother’s wedding on Saturday, but he said it was worth it.
“It definitely turned out to be a great decision,” Isner said on the ATP Web site. “It’s the perfect start to the summer and I really feel like my best surface is the hard courts in the US, so I’m going to have a lot of confidence from this.”
Isner made four finals last year, winning his first title at Auckland, but is better known for winning the longest match ever played, a marathon five-setter against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon, which he clinched 70-68 in the fifth set. He had not made a final this year, slipping down the rankings from a career-high 18 to 46, and was overlooked for the US team chosen to play Spain in the Davis Cup quarter-finals.
However, the 2.06m Isner beat Rochus in 1 hour, 42 minutes, claiming the title without dropping a set in the tournament. The Belgian, runner-up in the same event last year, dropped serve in the fifth game to concede the opening set and lost the second in a tiebreak after saving five break points.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a better week serving,” Isner said. “I’m fortunate to have that weapon and I was in a groove for five matches. It carried me to the championship here.”
BUDAPEST GRAND PRIX
AFP, BUDAPEST
Italy’s Roberta Vinci collected the sixth title of her career when she beat rising star Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to pick up the Budapest Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 28-year-old Vinci, the top seed and world No. 25, edged the opening set, during which there were five breaks of serve before Begu, eight years her junior, hit back strongly to take the second. Begu, currently ranked No. 77, but certain to rise after reaching the final, got the important break to lead 4-3 in the third before the Italian turned the tables to close out the match and snag her third title this year.
It was Begu’s second defeat in a final, having lost to the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in Marbella in April.
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