All three of this past week’s champions came from the unseeded contingent. Nick Kyrgios rolled to his first career ATP title in Marseille, Sam Querrey got the best of fellow American Rajeev Ram to prevail in Delray Beach, and Pablo Cuevas capped off a grueling week in Rio de Janeiro with a winner’s trophy.
Kyrgios beat Marin Cilic 6-2, 7-6(3) on Sunday afternoon, firing 17 aces and winning 35 of 37 first-serve points. The 20-year-old Australian did not lose a single set the entire tournament and he also never dropped serve, holding all 47 of his service games.
“I played my first final last year and was looking for my first title,” Kyrgios commented. “But I didn’t really expect to win this title this week after having a couple of weeks off. But from the first round I started playing really well and just gained confidence as I kept winning matches.”
Kyrgios-Cilic highlights:
Querrey, who ousted Juan Martin Del Potro in the Delray Beach semis, defeated Ram 6-4, 7-6(6). The world No. 61, who trailed by a break in six of his 10 contested sets, converted championship point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker with a running forehand pass that just barely clipped the baseline.
“It was kind of nervous, ugly tennis all week,” Querrey admitted. “But sometimes it feels better to win when you don’t play your best.”
Querrey-Ram highlights:
Pella hot shot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWTs8RgNvbA
[polldaddy poll=9318625]
surprising stuff
Nice to have different winners. I liked that Delray was an all American final, happy for Sam, it’s been a while.
Nice. All unseeded winners. Pretty awesome. Was kind of sad Pella and Rampras lost though. At least Nick won lol.
Really hoped Ram would get another ATP title – but congrats to Sam, yay Kyrgios, and Congrats to Cuevas!
Nole FTW in Dubai, Kei FTW in Acapulco, and I have no idea who to pick for Sao Paulo.
Cuevas is a beast after that long semifinal to win a 3-set final.