Ginepri beats Querrey 6-2, 6-4 in Indianapolis final, wins 3rd ATP singles title

Ginepri tops Querrey at Indy, wins 3rd ATP title

INDIANAPOLIS — Robby Ginepri didn’t exceed his expectations by winning the Indianapolis Tennis Championships simply because he didn’t have any.

The unseeded Ginepri, ranked No. 95 in the ATP rankings, won his third career singles title on Sunday by upsetting No. 3 seed and fellow American Sam Querrey, 6-2, 6-4, in the final of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.

“It’s funny how things work out,” said Ginepri, who never lost serve en route to his first singles title in four years. “I was trying to take one match at a time. I hadn’t won two back-to-back matches all year, so after I won that second one, I maybe got that monkey off my back a little bit for the year and just kept going.

“I’m extremely pleased that I fought out a couple of tough matches this week.”

Querrey, the third-highest ranked American at No. 37, will rise to a career-high No. 31 next week. After serving 45 aces in the tournament’s first four matches, he had two on Sunday.

“I wasn’t really serving that well today,” Querrey said. “He has such a tough return, especially on his second serve, so I just figured I might as well try to hit aces. It didn’t really work.

“I’m not sure what it was. I just didn’t have a rhythm on my serve.”

Querrey connected on 45 percent of his first serves.

“Sam has an extremely big serve,” Ginepri said. “I kind of got on it early. I knew if I wasn’t running Sam around the court he would take control of the point and I’d be running side to side. I really had to step up and hit shots today and hit the ball pretty early and try to dictate.”

Ginepri, 26, last won an ATP title in 2005, when he also captured the Indy championship.

“I think this one’s a little more special, because I didn’t expect it,” Ginepri said. “Not that I expected the other one. I was doing a little more of the right thing coming into it a few years ago than this time. The year that I’ve had this year, I’m pretty ecstatic I could get the job done.”

Ginepri, ranked No. 15 in 2005, entered the week with a 4-13 record this year. He will move up to around No. 56 next week, the ATP said.

“When you have a lot of losses, you start questioning if you can play at this level,” Ginepri said. “It creeps in the back of your mind, so this is definitely a confidence boost for me the rest of the summer.”

Ginepri broke Querrey twice to win the first set in 27 minutes, then won the crucial 11th game of the second set in dramatic fashion, rallying from 40-0 down to earn the first break of the set. That gave Ginepri a 6-5 lead, and he held serve without losing a point to win the tournament in the next game.

“I was lucky to get that break at four-all,” Ginepri said. “I just moved my position back 10, 15 feet behind the court and put some of his first serves in play. It was good enough to get the break.”

In Sunday’s doubles final, Dmitry Tursunov of Russia and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia upset top-seeded Ashley Fisher and Jordan Kerr of Australia, 6-4, 3-6, 11-9.

Tursunov and Gulbis won their four matches this week in third-set, super tiebreakers. They clinched the title Sunday when Gulbis powered a forehand winner down the left baseline to secure a come-from-behind tiebreaker victory.

It was the first time Tursunov and Gulbis played together.

“They’re obviously better as a team, but when there’s a lot of firepower against you, there’s not much you can do,” Tursunov said.

The duo plans to play together next at the U.S. Open Series event in Los Angeles this week, Tursunov said.

“We’ll see,” Tursunov said of their future as a team. “It’s kind of like beginner’s luck in poker, so we’ll see how it goes. If we’re having success, it makes sense to continue to play.”