LEXINGTON, August 7, 2017
Michael Mmoh is the winner of the $75,000 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships held on hard courts at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center in Lexington. The 19-year-old US-American rallied past John Millman of Australia in Sunday’s final 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.
It was a story of late breaks in the title match. In the first set, Millman broke at four all to take a 5-4 lead and then serve out the first set with a 6-4 scoreline. Mmoh faced eight break points in the set, and saved six of them, but was unable to hold at 4-4 to allow Millman to take the opening set.
After the second set was through eight games without a break, Mmoh broke for a 5-4 lead and had the chance to serve out the second set. However, Millman fought back and didn’t allow the break to be consolidated, as he broke back to level the second frame at five all. The second set went into a tiebreak, which Mmoh led 6-0 at the changeover. After wins by Millman in three of the next points, the teenager served out the seventh point to send the match to a third and decisive set.
In the third set, it was 4-3 with the third seeded Australian serving, before Mmoh got the first break of the set to make it 5-4, before he served out a 6-3 third-set win to capture his second ATP Challenger title after two hours and 21 minutes, following his triumph in Knoxville last year.
“The difference was in the next two sets, I just stepped up my game and started playing really aggressive, which actually was less taxing on my body,” Mmoh said. “The first set was extremely taxing, so I think I stepped it up, played my game in the next two sets, went for everything I saw.”
Mmoh takes away $10,800 in prize money and also earned a spot in the US Open.
“Playing this way really makes me happy, and especially going into a Grand Slam, that’s exactly how you want to play,” Mmoh told.
Kenin Wins ITF Women’s Title
In the $60,000 ITF women’s singles final, it was Sofia Kenin from the United States that got off to the fast start, breaking to start the match and racing out to a quick 3-0 lead in the opening set. However, Min got three different breaks of serve in the final seven games of the set, including the last game of the frame to take the first, 6-4.
The second set was all Min, who used four aces, four holds, and two breaks of serve to comfortably preserve her first Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships title. The match lasted just seven minutes over an hour, and gave the seventh-seeded player in the tournament and 23-year-old her first tournament win of the season.
RESULTS Sunday
Men’s Singles: Final
Michael Mmoh (USA) def. John Millman (AUS) 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3
Women’s Singles: Final
[7] Grace Min (USA) def. Sofia Kenin (USA) 6-4, 6-1
