Johnson triumphs in Houston, Andujar captures Marrakech title

Steve Johnson successfully defended his U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship title, going back-to-back by beating fellow American Tennys Sandgren 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-4 on Sunday afternoon. Johnson converted only two of 14 break-point chances, but a decisive break at 4-4 in the third set was enough to propel him past the finish line after two hours and 22 minutes.

“It means a lot [to win] here,” the 28-year-old noted. “This is one of the best tournaments of the year. You get the atmosphere of the country club, everything that goes with it. The people are awesome; everybody involved with the tournament makes it so special. (I’m) always happy to come back here and start my clay-court season.”

“He definitely had the upper hand until I could turn the momentum there in the second set,” Sandgren said of Johnson. “He was doing a lot of good things and I wasn’t really sure where to attack him. He was a defending well. His slice is tough to hit.

“It’s a great week. I’m super excited to get to a final and I’m happy the match was highly-contested. It definitely could have been a lot easier for him.”

Highlights:

At the Grand Prix Hassan II, Pablo Andujar took his comeback to new heights with a 6-2, 6-2 rout of Kyle Edmund in Sunday’s final. Andujar broke Edmund a whopping six times in eight return games before prevailing in one hour and 22 minutes.

Returning from major elbow problems, the 32-year-old Spaniard needed to use a protected ranking just to get into the Marrakech main draw. He eventually became the lowest-ranked ATP title winner (world No. 355) since Lleyton Hewitt (world No. 550) at the 1998 Adelaide event.

“I played very well during the whole match,” Andujar commented. “(I was) trying to make him move as much as I could. He attacks a lot and is a very strong player. I was very solid today and I’m very happy about that.”

“For me it was a good tournament; it was great experience for me,” Edmund assured. “It’s been a good year so far. It’s not the result I wanted, but nevertheless a good week for me.”

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