Anderson claims Hall of Fame Open; COVID-19 positive Gauff pulls out of Tokyo Olympics
World number 113 Anderson, a wildcard entrant ater losing to eventual winner Djokovic in the second round at Wimbledon, is expected to jump to 74th in the rankings with the title
Kevin Anderson captured his seventh career ATP title on Sunday, defeating 20-year-old American Jenson Brooksby 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 to win the Hall of Fame Open.
The 35-year-old South African won his first crown on grass at the Newport, Rhode Island, event and his first on any surface since 2019 at Pune, India.
World number 113 Anderson, a wildcard entrant ater losing to eventual winner Novak Djokovic in the second round at Wimbledon, is expected to jump to 74th in the rankings with the title.
“Thank you to the tournament for giving me a wildcard. It really worked out for me,” Anderson said. “It has definitely motivated me to keep going.”
Anderson underwent right knee surgery in February 2020 and has batled back for nearly 18 months to collect more hardware.
“This has been a fantastic week. This is as good as it gets,” Anderson said.
Brooksby, ranked 152nd but set to reach a career-high 126th, reached his first ATP final in only his third tour-level main draw.
He was the second-youngest finalist in the event’s 45-year history, the youngest being Britain’s Greg Rusedski at age 19 in 1993.
“I hope to be back here again and pushing for more,” Brooksby said.
Brooksby saved break points in the fourth game, when Anderson neted a forehand and with an ace, and held to 2-2. Anderson denied Brooksby on three break chances to reach a tie-breaker, the last of them in the 11th game.
In the tie-break, Brooksby made a drop volley winner and service winner for a 5-2 lead, but Anderson answered with two service winners and a overhead smash to pull level.
Brooksby hit a forehand crosscourt winner to grab an 8-7 edge but Anderson responded with a forehand winner, then fired his ninth ace and captured the first set ater 79 minutes with a backhand down the line service return winner.
In the second set, Anderson broke in the opening game and held from there to claim the crown ater two hours and 11 minutes.
Elsewhere, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva claimed her second career WTA title on Sunday with a straight sets win over Anhelina Kalinina in the final of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The top seed and world number 42 triumphed 6-4, 6-0 over her Ukrainian opponent to add the Budapest crown to her maiden title at Nuremberg in 2019. Putintseva now heads for Tokyo to compete in the Olympics which start on Friday.
Meanwhile, US tennis player Coco Gauff has tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing her to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics.
“I am so disappointed to share the news that I have tested positive for COVID and won’t be able to play in the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” Gauff tweeted on Sunday.
“It has always been a dream of mine to represent the USA at the Olympics, and I hope there will be many more chances for me to make this come true in the future.”
The 17-year-old lost to Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court in the fourth round at Wimbledon earlier this month. It was the second time she had lost at that stage ater her breakthrough run at the All England Club in 2019..
Gauff is No. 25 in the WTA rankings.
“We were saddened to learn that Coco Gauff has tested positive for COVID-19 and will therefore be unable to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” the US Tennis Association said in a statement.
“We wish her the best as she deals with this unfortunate situation and hope to see her back on the courts very soon. We know Coco will join all of us in rooting on the other Team USA members who will be traveling to Japan and competing in the coming days.”
The Olympics start on Friday in Tokyo and run until Aug. 8.