Daily Times

NEW YORK: South African Kevin Anderson put aside memories of his disappointing U.S. Open final when he dominated a third-set tiebreak to win the New York Open with a 4-6 6-3 7-6(1) victory over American Sam Querrey on Sunday. Anderson collected his fourth career title, his first as a top seed, and is expected to improve to ninth in the world rankings on Monday. After a third set that went to serve, Anderson unleashed his 16th ace in the second point of the tiebreak and never looked back before he achieved victory with a crosscourt winner at the Nassau Coliseum. “We first played each other 11 years ago. We always have close matches,” Anderson said after bringing his career head-to-head record against Querrey to 8-8. “I’ve been in quite a few finals,” Anderson continued. “It really means a lot to me to get through today.” The Florida-based 31-year-old has been in 15 career finals but won just four. His most significant finals loss came last September some 25 kilometres (16 miles) away at Flushing Meadows when he was beaten by Rafa Nada at the U.S. Open. “One of the big goals I had for this year was to try to be a bit more successful in that final stage,” Anderson said. “It feels great to come through and get today’s win. It gives me a lot of confidence for the year.”

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2018.