Australians dominate in Atlanta

Australian players have won the singles and doubles titles in Atlanta.

First Alex de Minaur won the singles title for the second time in Atlanta when he defeated USA’s Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 6-3.

In the doubles, it was an all-Australian final with the Australian Open champions Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis getting the title after defeating John Peers and Jason Kubler 7-6(4), 7-5.

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis had to backup after winning their semifinal earlier in the day.

de Minaur won the Atlanta title back in 2019, the second of three that year.

The 23-year-old Australian broke in the sixth game of the first set to lead 4-2. He consolidated the break for 5-2 before a Brooksby hold of serve saw de Minaur serving for the set.

A comfortable service hold saw de Minaur take the opening set 6-3.

Brooksby was broken in the first game of the second set before hitting back straight away for 1-1.

The American was up 3-2 in the second set before de Minaur won the next four games to claim the title.

“I’d like to thank the crowd,” De Minaur said during the trophy ceremony. “You guys were amazing. I’m not a local, but you guys sure made me feel like one, so really appreciate the support.”

“It was great to get another title under my name. It’s my sixth title. It feels good. Not a lot of people have been able to do that, so I feel great,” De Minaur said. “I feel great about my game. I’ve put a lot of work in, so it’s great to see the hard work being rewarded.”

“I knew coming in it [would be] a very tactical, chess-like match that we were going to both play. I feel like we are both tricky players in that sense and we adapt very well, so [there were] a lot of tactics going both ways and I’m happy I was able to execute my game plan and get the win today,” De Minaur said. “But it was a very tough match. Plenty of times [it could have] gone either way and even though the scoreboard was 3 and 3, it felt very, very tight.”

Brooksby was competing in his third ATP Tour final, he is yet to claim a title.

“I was disappointed with my performance out there today, but you’ve got to be able to think long term and just try to see how consistently I can reproduce my focus and those results,” Brooksby said. “I just need to learn from that one and keep staying in the present.”