TIBURON, October 1, 2017
Tennys Sandgren and Cameron Norrie will compete in Sunday’s singles final of the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger by Wells Fargo.
The feature match of the day on Saturday had second seed Sandgren edging past fellow US-Amercian Mackenzie McDonald 7-6, 7-6. Bruising groundstroke rallies and an extremely physical first set drew even at 6 apiece, but Sandgren got the upper hand and prevailed. The second set also came down to a tiebreak with McDonald taking an early lead 3-0. Sandgren then rattled off 7 straight points to win the match after one hour and 48 minutes.
The tournament’s number eight Cameron Norrie from Great Britain defeated Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India 6-3, 6-2. A battle of the lefties gave the crowds a lot to cheer for, with Gunneswaran serving big and doing his best to dominate the court with his forehand. It was Norrie’s day, however, and he created too many problems for his opponent with his placement and consistency. Norrie moves into the finals after only 57 minutes of play.
Sandgren’s and Norrie’s head-to-head record is tied at 2-2. Their last meeting took place at Cary Challenger earlier this sesason with the Briton winning in three sets.
In the remaining semifinals doubles match, wild card entries Andre Goransson from Sweden and Frenchman Florian Lakat beat Luke Bambridge of Great Britain and David O’Hare. Goransson and Lakat came out of the gates strong, serving huge and staying aggressive and committed at the net. Bambridge and O’Hare had their chances, but squandered upwards of 12 break points throughout the match. The Cal Berkeley team deservedly booked their spot in the finals with a straight-set victory over the number-two seeded team. They will face number-one seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Miguel Reyes-Varela from Mexico in Sunday’s doubles final.
Men’s Singles – Semifinals
[2] T. Sandgren (USA) d M. McDonald (USA) 76(4) 76(3)
[8] C. Norrie (GBR) d P. Gunneswaran (IND) 63 62
Men’s Doubles – Semifinals
[WC] A. Goransson (SWE) / F. Lakat (FRA) d [2] L. Bambridge (GBR) / D. O’Hare (IRL) 63 75
