Sealed with a kiss ??#USClay pic.twitter.com/ryGGFJeyD0
— US Men’s Clay Court (@mensclaycourt) April 15, 2018
Steve Johnson Defends US Clay Court Title in Houston; Pablo Andujar Wins Marrakech for Third Time
(April 15, 2018) In the first all-American US Clay Courts final since 2015, defending champion Steve Johnson defeated eighth seed Tennys Sandgren 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-4 to defend his title at River Oaks. Johnson now has a nine-match winning streak at the event.
Sandgren was playing in his first ATP World Tour final, he’ll move into the Top 50 on Monday.
Johnson is the first player to repeat as the US Clay champion since Andy Roddick in 2001-02. He is just the fourth player to repeat as champion in the Open Era, and the 13th player to do so since the tournament began in 1910.
This is Johnson’s third career title. He was playing in his fourth career final. It was an emotional day for Johnson, who won his first title since the death of his father last year. He openly wept after match point.
“I’m just happy to be sitting at the end of the week a winner,” Johnson said after the match. “Any chance you can have to have a title is incredible. So I’m very happy to be holding that trophy at the end of the week.”
While many players are off to Europe, Johnson will be going home to California to get married next weekend.
Spain’s Pablo Andujar won the Grand Prix Hassan II claycourt title in Marrakech for the third time beating Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund, the second seed 6-2, 6-2. It was Edmund’s first ATP World Tour final.
Using a protected ranking, the 355th-ranked Andujar became the lowest ranked player to win an ATP title since 1998 when Lleyton Hewitt was ranked 550th winning the Adelaide crown.
“I always believed that I could come back, otherwise I wouldn’t have tried,” the 32-year-old Andujar said after the match.
