AMERICAN TENNIS PLAYER STEVIE JOHNSON BLASTS THROUGH BUSY DAY TO SET UP AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM FINAL AGAINST CUEVAS – RESULTS AND ORDER OF PLAY & QUOTES

Written by: Staff on 24th June 2016

AMERICAN TENNIS PLAYER STEVIE JOHNSON BLASTS THROUGH BUSY DAY TO SET UP AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM FINAL AGAINST CUEVAS - RESULTS AND ORDER OF PLAY & QUOTES |

#aegonopen #nottingham #tennis – Photo by @amy.stevenson via Instagram.

America’s Stevie Johnson will face Pablo Cuevas in Saturday’s Aegon Open Nottingham final after racing past Italian No. 7 seed Andreas Seppi 6-4 6-4 on a rain-interrupted day that started with Johnson completing a quarter-final win over top seed Kevin Anderson.

No. 6 seed Johnson – who overcame World No. 10 Richard Gasquet on his way to the quarter – finals at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club last week – had to close out two matches on Friday due to bad light suspending his clash with Anderson at 7-6(6) 5-7 3-4 on Thursday night.

World No. 38 Johnson then went on to get the better of Seppi in one hour and 18 minutes despite an hour-long rain delay prolonging his already-busy schedule at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.

Johnson and Cuevas are scheduled to take to Centre Court on finals day at the Aegon Open at 2pm. The day’s action – which is almost sold out – begins at 12noon with the last remaining Brit, Dom Inglot, teaming up with Daniel Nestor against Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the doubles decider.

In only their second week together Inglot could help Nestor collect his 89th ATP World Tour title.

To get a shot at his first title, Johnson had a hectic Friday and said: “To come out today and finish the match from yesterday, get the win over Kevin and then come out against Andreas and have a rain delay wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. Fortunately, I came out with good starts in both and was able to get back in the swing of things.”

In his only other ATP World Tour final, Johnson lost out to Spaniard David Ferrer after being one set up at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna last October.

Ahead of facing World No. 25 Cuevas, Johnson added: “I’m going to feel more comfortable. I’m definitely feeling confident, but Pablo’s played an outstanding tournament as well. It’s hopefully going to be a great match and I’m going to be a bit more comfortable in my second final than I was in my first.”

Earlier in the day, Cuevas also reached his first ATP World Tour final on grass after he came from a set down to beat Gilles Muller 3-6 7-6(3) 6-4 in two hours and two minutes.

It is the third time in the tournament that Cuevas has played a three-set match, having come from a set down against Brit Dan Evans and saving a match point against Marcos Baghdatis in previous rounds.

Cuevas, who has won five career ATP World Tour singles titles including back-to-back crowns on clay earlier this year, said: “I’m so happy to reach my first final on grass. I have played every match with more confidence and today I beat an excellent player on grass. Hopefully tomorrow I will enjoy it too.

Having won only two matches on grass before this week, the 30-year-old added: “I always play more comfortably on clay. I was born playing on clay but this is my first time playing with confidence on grass. Now, having played four matches here, the feeling is good.”

Fans coming to the Aegon Open Nottingham are encouraged to act quickly to buy tickets and avoid disappointment as only a limited number are still available. Go to https://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham/tickets/ for more information.

AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM – NOTTINGHAM, GBR

€704,805

19-25 JUNE 2016

RESULTS – JUNE 24, 2016

Men’s Singles – Semi-finals

[2] P. Cuevas (URU) d [8] G. Muller (LUX) 36 76(3) 64

[6] S. Johnson (USA) d [7] A. Seppi (ITA) 64 64

Quarter-finals

[6] S. Johnson (USA) d [1] K. Anderson (RSA) 76(6) 57 64

Men’s Doubles – Semi-finals

[1] I. Dodig (CRO) / M. Melo (BRA) d O. Marach (AUT) / F. Martin (FRA) 57 63 10-6

ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016

CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon

DOUBLES FINAL – [1] I. Dodig (CRO) / M. Melo (BRA) vs [2] D. Inglot (GBR) / D. Nestor (CAN)

Not Before 2:00 pm

SINGLES FINAL – [6] S. Johnson (USA) vs [2] P. Cuevas (URU)

The Aegon Open Nottingham

The Aegon Open Nottingham sees two tournaments take place in June, with the men’s ATP event staged from 18-25 June 2016. Both the WTA and ATP tournaments are an integral part of the British grass-court season, which features 11 international grass-court tournaments in eight venues across the country.

2017 Grass Court Tournament Calendar

Earlier this year the LTA announced exciting changes to the three week 2017 grass court tournament calendar. Nottingham will host a combined men’s and women’s tour-level tournament in the same week for the first time in 44 years. The pre-existing ATP 250 tournament will move back to Eastbourne, merging with the WTA Premier Aegon International to form a combined event (as it was from 2009-2014) featuring the following format: a 28-player main draw men’s event and 48-player main draw for the women staged across nine days. Other changes include a doubling of prize money at the Aegon Trophy Series (ATP Challenger & ITF Women’s Pro Circuit) creating the highest value circuit at this level in world tennis.

Notes/Tidbits

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the National Governing Body for tennis in Great Britain, responsible for developing and promoting the sport with a mission to get more people playing tennis more often. It does this under the consumer brand of British Tennis, by working with a broad range of partners and over 25,000 volunteers, to grow the game in communities, clubs and schools. The LTA represents the interests of more than five million men and women, girls and boys across the country that play tennis on more than 23,000 courts. The LTA runs and supports a network of 11,500 approved tournaments for players of all ages, the corner-stones of which are five grass court pro events leading up to Wimbledon, held in Nottingham (WTA & ATP), Birmingham (WTA), Queen’s Club-London (ATP) and Eastbourne (WTA), all of which are title sponsored by Aegon, our lead Partner who is helping transform the sport in this country. The LTA works in partnership with its charitable entity, the Tennis Foundation, to provide a tennis provision for almost 20,000 schools, disadvantaged youth as well as promoting tennis as an inclusive sport for anyone with a disability. The LTA created a Davis Cup legacy campaign following Great Britain’s historic first win in 79 years, committing to deliver 10,000 free racquets and courses as well as a Trophy Tour, nationwide. For further information about the LTA and British Tennis, and to review the British Tennis strategy for 2015 – 2018 visit www.lta.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @BritishTennis.

The LTA’s purpose is to enrich lives through tennis. Our new values are Teamwork, Integrity, Passion and Excellence which underpin everything that we do.

Topics: Aegon Open, Andreas Seppi, Nottingham, Stevie Johnson, Tennis News