MEN’S TOUR NEWS FROM THE WEEKEND IN NEWPORT, BASTAD, AND STUTTGART BRAVO TO HEWITT DUBS & SINGLES CHAMP @ NEWPORT

Written by: Staff on 13th July 2014

MEN'S TOUR NEWS FROM THE WEEKEND IN NEWPORT, BASTAD, AND STUTTGART BRAVO TO HEWITT DUBS & SINGLES CHAMP @ NEWPORT

epa04078244 Leyton Hewitt of Australia watches his return shot to Michael Russell of the US in their quarter final match in the US National Indoor Tennis Championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 14 February 2014. EPA/TANNEN MAURY |

By Ricky Dimon

A trio of 250-point tournament titles were handed out on Sunday. In the last grass-court event on the 2014 ATP Tour calendar, Lleyton Hewitt triumphed over Ivo Karlovic in a third-set tiebreaker. Clay-court victories were earned by Pablo Cuevas (over Joao Sousa in Bastad) and Roberto Bautista Agut (over Lukas Rosol in Stuttgart).

Newport summary

Jack Sock and Samuel Groth made relatively surprising runs to the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, but they were no match for their veteran opponents. Hewitt ousted Sock 6-1, 6-2 and Karlovic downed Groth 6-4, 6-4 to set up a final showdown between a 33-year-old (Hewitt) and a 35-year-old (Karlovic). Hewitt got off to a fast start by breaking Karlovic twice in the first set and he even broke twice more in the second, but this time the 6’11” Croat answered with two breaks of his own. In the end, it was Hewitt who came out on the winning end of a typical scoreline involving Karlovic: 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(3).

“I felt relief to have finally won here,” assured Hewitt, who finished runner-up in Newport in both 2012 and 2013. “It’s an important tournament. I’ve come here the last three years and have come awfully close the last two years. It’s nice to be rewarded today.”

Bastad summary

Carlos Berlocq upset No. 1 seed David Ferrer in the quarterfinals during the Argentine’s attempted title defense and Sousa did well to reach his second career ATP final, but the SkiStar Swedish Open was all about Cuevas. Having been plagued by knee problems the past two seasons, Cuevas needed to use a protected ranking just to get into the tournament. He promptly went all the way to the title, capping of his run with a semifinal defeat of Fernando Verdasco and a 6-2, 6-1 rout of Sousa in a mere 59 minutes on Sunday.

“This is an amazing week,” said Cuevas. “Today I played unbelievably. I’m so happy to win my first title. This city is beautiful and for sure I’ll be back next year.”

Stuttgart summary

In 2013, Nicolas Mahut went into the four-week stretch surrounding Wimbledon with no career singles titles and finished it with two (‘s-Hertogenbosch and Newport). Now Bautista Agut has accomplished the same feat in 2014. Bautista Agut captured his first-ever title on the grass courts of ‘s-Hertogenbosch just prior to Wimbledon and on Sunday he prevailed at the Mercedes Cup with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over Rosol. The Spaniard survived three of his four Stuttgart matches in third sets, including a third-set tiebreaker victory over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the quarters.

“It’s really difficult to win a tournament on grass and then go to Wimbledon and win a couple matches there and then with only a few practices on clay, come here and win the title,” Bautista Agut explained. “It’s really amazing.”

Briefs

* Sock upsets Isner for semifinal finish in Newport, into top 70

* Hewitt wins Newport title but was defending runner-up points, climbs just two positions to No. 41.

* Berlocq fails to defend Bastad crown with semifinal loss to Sousa, will fall out of top 50.

* Sousa’s run ends in final, will climb five spots to No. 35.

* Cuevas captures first career title, set to soar 50 places to 61st.

* Rosol takes out Lopez and Youzhny, will reach No. 41 with runner-up showing in Stuttgart.

* Bautista Agut wins second title in four weeks, into top 20 at No. 18.

Topics: Atp, Bastad, Bautista Agut, Carlos Berlocq, David Ferrer, Ivo Karlovic, jack sock, Lleyton Hewitt, Newport, Nicolas Mahut, Samuel Groth, Stuttgart, Tennis, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

July 13, 2014 at 10:05 pm

MEN’S TOUR NEWS FROM THE WEEKEND IN NEWPORT, BASTAD, AND STUTTGART BRAVO TO HEWITT DUBS & SINGLES…- http://t.co/a3pToipaNb @RD_Tennistalk
RD_Tennistalk says:

July 13, 2014 at 10:10 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: MEN’S TOUR NEWS FROM THE WEEKEND IN NEWPORT, BASTAD, AND STUTTGART BRAVO TO HEWITT DUBS & SINGLES…- http://t.co/a3pToip…
richie_arn247 says:

July 14, 2014 at 12:28 am

RT @10sBalls_com: MEN’S TOUR NEWS FROM THE WEEKEND IN NEWPORT, BASTAD, AND STUTTGART BRAVO TO HEWITT DUBS & SINGLES…- http://t.co/a3pToip…