Two tournaments, two titles. That is the perfect career record for Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock after they won the BB&T Atlanta Open last weekend. Pospisil and Sock, who recently triumphed in Wimbledon in their first-ever partnership, lifted another trophy by defeating Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 6-3, 5-7, 10-5.
“Being able to win a Grand Slam, I think in the rest of the tournaments we play together we’ll feel pretty comfortable out there; especially in the tighter moments or the close matches or if we happen to play on weekends again,” Sock explained.
Sunday’s final looked like it would be an entirely straightforward affair, as Sock and Pospisil broke serve early in the first and midway through the second for a commanding 6-3, 5-3 advantage. Out of nowhere, though, Atlanta’s No. 1 seeds started to crack. They had not been broken all day but promptly dropped serve twice in succession and lost four games in succession.
“First of all, it happens,” Pospisil reflected. “Second of all, the sun was–I don’t want to make excuses–right where I normally toss the ball on the serve. So it kind of threw me off a little bit, especially the first couple points. They played well. It’s never going to be smooth sailing. We felt like we were playing better than they were even after losing the second set, so we just had to stay calm and go point by point and it worked out well for us.”
Sock and Pospisil rebounded to take the super-tiebreaker without too much trouble. It ended in unceremonious fashion when Johnson double-faulted on championship point at 5-9.
With 2,000 points from their improbable Wimbledon title and 250 more in Atlanta, Sock and Pospisil are up to seventh in the team race to the World Tour Finals. Sock is 26th in the rankings while Pospisil registers at 28th, but it is the 2014 race that is on their minds.
“We’re trying to make the ATP finals,” Sock assured. “That’s one of our small goals this year on the side now, obviously aside from singles. (We will try to) keep improving there and climbing in the rankings now that we’re on a little bit of a streak.”
Leave a Reply