Giron scores first ATP Tour singles victory at Tennis Hall of Fame Open

NEWPORT — Marcos Giron’s career upswing has been anticipated for years.

Dallas featured the Californian in its finals in February and Florida invited him to the semifinal round a week later. The 30-year-old doesn’t make his first ATP Tour finals appearance until 2022 – a title has been on the cards ever since.

Giron waited for Newport to claim his breakthrough tour victory, the veteran overcoming a late third-set deficit against Alex Michelsen to lift the Van Alen Cup 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 on pristine turf and under picturesque skies.

“Overall, I feel like I’ve kind of continued to improve every year,” Giron said. “I’ve continued to improve and I’m continuing to improve. I’m continuing to do damage.”

Michelsen led 5-4 in the third set before Giron saved a break point with a 119 mph ace to take the advantage in tense conditions at the last available format of the Infosys Hall of Fame Open. Giron finished the game with three straight points and won the sixth game after taking a 40-15 advantage.

The final game lasted just over two minutes and ended with an exclamation point with Giron’s 13th ace.

“I think if you live in ignorance and think (losses) are something that will never happen again, it’s going to happen,” Giron said. “I think the tour is going to humble you every week, and if you don’t learn and improve, you’re going to find out.”

Second seed Giron, who won 3 sets in the last 16, lost only 5 games in the quarterfinals and then beat fourth seed Christopher Eubanks 6-2 in the third set in the semifinals to advance to the final.

“The margins are so small and it’s never over until they shake hands,” Giron said. “It’s crazy from that perspective and a great sport from that perspective.”

This past summer was a test of extremes for Michelsen. This time last year, Michelsen, who was undecided whether to head to Georgia or the tennis tour, lost in straight sets at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open. His appearance in the finals propelled him to the tour, and he almost got it right in his second shot at Newport Casino.

The tournament’s third seed returned to Newport this season and reached Sunday’s final without needing a third set. The 19-year-old easily cruised past Reilly Opelka 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals and all but completed a perfect run for the crown for the young contender.

“It was a pretty epic match against Michelsen and he’s a great player,” Giron said. “He’s ready to stay.”

After dropping the first two games of the opening set, Michelsen took a 4-3 advantage in the frame. He won the crucial sixth point to break a 5-all tie in a 16-minute game. Michelsen then made consecutive errors to win the point on his 116 mph first serve. Michelsen took a 6-2 advantage in the first-set tie-break and closed out the frame with an eight-shot rally.

With this victory, Giron moved up to 38th place in the ATP rankings.

“I’ve been working for this for a long time,” Giron said. “It feels great to (finally) win the last point of the week.”

European duo wins doubles title

Swedish and Dutch duo Andre Goransson and Sem Verbeek have chosen the perfect time to make their ATP Tour debut.

The duo lost just one set this week and cruised to the doubles title at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open. In just under an hour, the duo defeated NCAA champions Robert Cash and James Tracy 6-3, 6-4.

“It’s a great feeling to do this together,” Goransson said. “We’ve been working together for a few months now and… we’re great friends. There’s no one else I’d rather do this with.”

Verbeek became the first Dutchman to win a doubles title in Newport, while Goransson brought the title to Sweden for the first time since 1988.

“(Newport’s) meant a lot to me too because it was the first ATP I played here,” Verbeek said. “And then to win it was a very special farewell for me.”

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In X: By @JacobRousseau