American Steve Johnson capped off a solid week leading up to Wimbledon by claiming his first ever ATP title.
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Johnson claimed the Aegon Open Nottingham title with a straight sets win over Pablo Cuevas.
"It feels really good, I'm not going to lie," Johnson said to ATP.com. "I had some ups and downs so far this year. To find my groove on the grass is fantastic. I had a good week at Queen's Club and felt pretty comfortable on the grass. Once I got here and played my first couple of matches, I knew I was definitely a contender to win this."
Johnson earlier in the week knocked out top seed Kevin Anderson en route to Saturday’s final. The second seeded Cuevas, going for his sixth career title, proved a worthy foe.
Both men held serve throughout the first set without facing a break point. That resulted in a tiebreak that Cuevas took early control of with a 3-1 lead.
But Johnson won six out of the next eight points to take it 7-6(5). Johnson earned a break lead in the second set. Yet Cuevas later broke back with a backhand winner for 4-all.
Johnson broke his opponent again and eventually served for the title at 6-5. A fine volley from Johnson on match point sealed the 7-6(5), 7-5 victory.
Johnson, a former college standout at the University of Southern California, is now the third ATP player to win their first ever career title this season. The other two are Nick Kyrgios (Marseille) and Diego Schwartzman (Istanbul).