Ryan Sweeting beats Kei Nishikori; claims US Men’s Clay Court Tennis Championships 2011 title
Wild card entrant Ryan Sweeting defeated sixth seeded Kei Nishikori in a two set final to claim his first ATP world Tour title at the River Oaks Country Club, Houston. Advancing to the finals, he moved past Sam Querrey in the second
round and 2007 winner Ivo Karlovic in the semi finals. After claiming his title, Sweeting has become the first player to reach the finals as wild card entrant, since his compatriot Mardy Fish in 2006.
The American initiated the match in a very unsettled way. He pulled off a number of unforced errors including six double faults in the whole match. The Japanese on the other hand looked very relieved and calmed throughout the match,
though he lost it with a 6-4, 7-6 score line.
Sweeting made the most of the opportunities made available by his Japanese opponent and clinched the first set with a 6-4 score. Sweeting hit 71 percent of first serves and generated 68 percent of points on then, with the Japanese
following closely behind with a similar percentage on his 56 percent first serves. Nishikori’s most prominent aspect of the game in the first set was his ability to save 67 percent breakpoint opportunities as opposed to Sweeting’s zero percent. Having a meager
score of 48 percent in total as compared to his opponent’s 52 percent, Nishikori lost the first set, going one down in a set score.
In the second set, both players gave one another a considerable fight for the love of title and money, taking the final set into a tie breaker. Sweeting luckily managed to reach seven points with a difference of three over his
Japanese opponent. Sweeting hit three aces, 52 percent of first serves gaining 69 percent of points on them. Moreover, he was a lot better at converting breakpoint opportunities with 80 percent of points as opposed to Nishikori’s 50 percent. It was Sweeting’s
forte once again to clinch the set with a 7-6 score.
After the win, Sweeting said, “I needed a little help to get in. I want to thank for the opportunity, and for giving me the wild card it was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to coming back and defending the title next year.”
Despite failing to clinch titles in previous years, the American was outstanding to regroup himself and presented a powerful performance in all matches of the tournament. Sweeting had already appeared at the Houston event for three
times but unfortunately never made it to the finals. His first appearance at the event came in 2007 where he couldn’t reach the fourth round losing to Mariano Zabaleta. He then kept on refining himself with every tournament he played and at last made it to
the finals defeating Nishikori in straight sets.
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