ATP Houston Final
Christian Garin vs Casper Ruud
Head to Head: 1-0 Garin
After a fairly wild week in Houston, the final is a good summary of the tournament. Both players are young and talented, were not really supposed to be here, and have provided plenty of entertainment with their games. Garin had the more difficult road to reach the final, having to go through seeded players Jeremy Chardy and Sam Querrey. The Chardy match was his defining moment of the tournament, winning back-to-back tiebreakers after losing the first set. He dropped the first set in each of the two first rounds, then has not dropped a set in his last two matches. Against Querrey, Garin won a tight tiebreaker in the first set then crushed him 6-2 in the second set, breaking Querrey twice who had only been broken once in 32 service games coming into the match. He is actually in familiar territory here, reaching his first ATP final in Sao Paolo just one month ago.
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Casper Ruud is playing his first ATP final, but he does have some familiarity here in Houston. His father and coach Christian Ruud won the Rive Oaks International Tennis Tournament held at the exact same venue in 1996. Ruud had an easier road to the final and showed it with his play. He dropped only one set, in the second round to big serving American Reilly Opelka. He crushed 2008 champion Marcel Granollers 6-1 6-0 in the quarterfinal and comfortably beat a tired Daniel Galan in the semis. Unlike Garin, this is uncharted territory for the Norweigian, though he has made a couple semis.
This match is incredibly hard to predict. Both players are young, Garin at 22 and Ruud at 20, both excel on clay, and both have played great tennis all week. Garin has a few more miles in his legs playing longer matches, but neither player had exceedingly grueling opposition in the semifinal. Both are gunning for their first of what is sure to be several ATP titles. At the end of the day, Ruud will be a little more consistent and break down Garin just enough to capture the Houston title.
Predicition: Ruud in 3
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