Tag Archives: Eastbourne

Alex de Minaur Claims First Career Grass-Court Title at Eastbourne

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Alex de Minaur is certainly tuned up for Wimbledon…

The 22-year-old Uruguayan-Spanish Australian player won the first grass-court title of his career at the Eastbourne tournament on Saturday.

Alex de Minaur

The No. 2-seeded de Minaur came back to edge No. 3 seed Lorenzo Sonego 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) over more than 2 1/2 hours in a men’s final in which each player collected the same number of total points, 107-107.

That gave de Minaur his fifth career ATP title and second of 2021. All eight previous finals he had appeared in were on hard courts, including his championship at Antalya, Turkey, in January.

The best Grand Slam showing for de Minaur also came on a hard court with a quarterfinal run at last year’s U.S. Open.

He’s been as far as the third round at Wimbledon.

de Minaur is assured of moving up from No. 18 to a career-high No. 15 in the ATP rankings next week.

Play begins at the All England Club on Monday.

He goes into Wimbledon on an 8-2 roll on grass this month, including a semifinal appearance at Queen’s Club last week.

López Wins Pre-Wimbledon Tournament at Eastbourne

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The third title’s the charm for Feliciano López…

The 31-year-old Spanish tennis player claimed his third career title when he beat the tournament’s second seed Gilles Simon 7-6 (2), 6-7 (5), 6-0 in the Aegon International final at Eastbourne on Saturday, just days before they meet again in the first round at Wimbledon.

Feliciano Lopez

Lopez won four of 21 break points and Simon one of six. After an exchange of breaks midway through the first set, López failed to win a set point at 5-4 before taking the tiebreaker.

In the second set it was Simon who held a set point at 5-4 ahead of winning the tiebreaker, before Lopez responded by dominating the final set.

Feliciano Lopez

“It’s definitely a good feeling to win the week before Wimbledon,” Lopez said. “Conditions were so tough but we did our best. Hopefully at Wimbledon we can play a better match.”

It’s the first title of the year for López, who currently ranks as the World No. 39. Earlier this year, he reached the finals at the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships in Memphis, losing to Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-3.