Kevin Anderson won the Hall of Fame Open by defeating 20-year-old American Jenson Brooksby 7-6(8) 6-4. The 35-year-old South African won his seventh ATP title on Sunday, his first since the Maharashtra Open in Pune in January 2019.
“I guess I’m towards the end, but I’m definitely really motivated to keep going,” he said to the crowd on the centre court after accepting a trophy. Anderson is coming off knee surgery last year.
This is when the hard work pays off 🏆
Pure delight for @KAndersonATP as he clinches his seventh title 🙌
🎥: @TennisTV | @TennisHalloFame pic.twitter.com/G2J7EzMuOp
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 18, 2021
Brooksby, the tournament’s second-youngest finalist in its 45-year history, was playing in his maiden ATP final. When Greg Rusedski, then 19 years old, won the 1993 title on Newport’s grass courts, the only grass tournament in North America, he was the youngest.
The event takes place in conjunction with the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s induction ceremonies.
Brooksby fired a forehand return into the net on the second match point, finishing the match after 2 hours and 11 minutes. Anderson raised his arms and moved to a corner of the court, where he hugged his wife, Kelsey, in the first row of seats behind a baseline. Anderson, the eighth seed and a wild-card participant trailed 5-2 in the tiebreaker before rallying to take a 7-6 lead, his first of the tiebreak. He made it 9-8 with a slicing ace before closing the set with a backhand winner down the line.
Anderson, a 2018 Wimbledon finalist, broke in the second set’s first game. To keep the crowd favourite, Brooksby, off-balance, he varied his serves, switching from hard to slicing at times.
It was the tournament’s widest age gap in a final in its history.
