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Sam Groth Serves His Way To Second Annual Las Vegas Tennis Open Singles Championship

Oct 23rd 2016
Sam Groth

LAS VEGAS  – Australian Sam Groth hammered home an amazing 30 aces in capturing the second annual Las Vegas Tennis Open ATP Challenger event on Sunday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the campus of UNLV.

The unseeded Groth ended No. 4-seed Santiago Giraldo’s nine-match winning streak as he got past the Colombian in an exciting final match taking the title, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5.

The 30 aces – to just one double fault – gave Groth a total of 95 total in his five matches, compared to just 33 for the next highest player.

Groth said the conditions were favorable for him to serve so well, especially never having to battle the sun in his eyes.

Giraldo told the crowd after the match that he considers himself a good service returner, but he was never able to solve the riddle that was Groth’s serve. “That was very tough,” Giraldo said. “It’s not easy. I consider myself a good returner but today’s there was nothing I could do.”

Groth, who will improve in the rankings to around No. 180, has been slowed by foot and neck injuries, and would love to get back to his career high of No. 53. “To get a win here is going to do a lot for my confidence,” he said.

Groth grabbed the microphone after the ceremony and made sure he thanked all the fans, the sponsors, the ball kids, and especially tournament director Jean-Francois Blais and host Owen Hambrook for putting on such a great tournament.

In the doubles final, the top-seeded team of Brian Baker from Nashville, Tenn., and Matt Reid from Australia beat the American team of Bjorn Fratangelo and Denis Kudla, 6-1, 7-5.

Baker won his third consecutive ATP Challenger doubles title with his third different partner and is now 12-0 since the US Open, where he made it to the Round of 16 in doubles.

Groth won Stockton with Baker, who teamed with ATP World Tour rookie Mackenzie McDonald to win in Fairfield last week. In the Stockton final, Baker beat Sunday’s partner Reid in the final.

Baker-Reid jumped out to a 5-0 start, and both teams played entertaining doubles in the second set. “Anytime you can come out and get a couple of early breaks in a final you’ve got to feel good,” Baker said. “We served well the whole match and never gave them any good looks.”

LAS VEGAS TENNIS OPEN - LAS VEGAS
$50,000  Men's Singles Final
Sam Groth (AUS) def. [4] Santiago Giraldo (COL), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5

Doubles - Final

[1] Brian Baker (USA) / Matt Reid (AUS) def. Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) / Denis Kudla (USA), 6-1, 7-5