One win is all that separates Steve Johnson from becoming the first man to defend his title at the US Men’s Clay Championships since Andy Roddick back in 2002.
The defending champion, who is seeded sixth in this year’s Houston draw, required almost two-and-a-half-hours to get past Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-2. He was close to a straightforward victory, but failed to convert a duo of match points whilst leading 6-5, in the second set. Enabling world No.72 Fritz to draw level in the match. Nevertheless, Johnson regrouped by breaking twice in the decider to move into his fourth ATP final.
“I’m happy to be back in the final,” said Johnson. “This court has a lot of special memories for me. I’m happy to be in another final and get a title tomorrow. It was windy and gusty today and the shadows were moving in. I was able to find the break early in the third and that made the big difference.”
Hitting eight aces and winning 77% of the points behind his first serve, Johnson is closing in on only his third ATP title at the age of 28. Shortly after the match the was presented with the tournament’s sportsmanship award. An annual honor that is present to players that have demonstrated high levels of sportsmanship. Despite receiving the title, it is another that the American has his eye on.
“To get my hands on that trophy (again),” Johnson said, “would mean a lot, both tennis-wise and emotion-wise.”
Standing in Johnson’s way of winning the tournament is Tennys Sandgren, who will contest his first ever ATP Final on Sunday. The 26-year-old edged his way past Ivo Karlovic 7-6(2), 7-6(4), on what was an historic occasion for the Croat. This week Karlovic became the oldest player to reach an ATP semi-final since Jimmy Connors in 1993.
Despite the fierce serve of his opponent, Sandgren managed to tame Karlovic. Fighting back from a break down in the first set before successfully saving a set point in the second.
As a result of his latest victory, he is set to break into the world’s top 50 on Monday regardless of the outcome of the final. Which will be the first all-American clash since 2015.
“Against Ivo, you only get a couple stabs and that’s the match,” Sandgren said. “You don’t get to play a lot. It’s a matter of, ‘are you ready (for every point)?’ That was a tough match. It’s tough to play him. He does what he wants. It’s difficult. (When he broke Sandgren in the first set), he just hit a bunch of winners. But I was guessing pretty well on his serve, trying to read some sort pattern of where he liked to go when it was close. I took some stabs and got lucky.”
Historically Johnson trails 0-2 to Sandgren in their head-to-head. However, their last meeting was almost five years ago at the 2013 Savannah Challenger. It will be the third time they have face each other on the clay.
