By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday February 11, 2024
Tommy Paul claimed his second ATP title, and his first on home soil, defeating Marcos Giron in a tense final in Dallas.
Photo Source: TTV
When Tommy Paul and Marcos Giron practiced together earlier in the week at Dallas, it was former UCLA Bruin Giron that gave Paul an old-fashioned whooping.
In Sunday’s final Paul got his good friend when it counted and claimed a hard-fought 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-3 title for his second ATP title – and first on home soil – at the Dallas Open.
Paul and Giron call themselves the “good vibe tribe” when they pal around on tour, and it suits them. Both easy going, both likable, both content to let their racquets do the talking.
It was more of the same on Sunday as the pair battled for two and a half hours with not very much between them.
Paul, who snapped an 820-day title drought, and ended up winning his first title since Stockholm in 2021, took the early edge, winning the opening-set tiebreak, but Giron hit a purple patch late in the second set as Paul tried to lock down his title in straight sets.
No such luck. The 30-year-old refused to miss as he ripped through the final three games to take the momentum into the set break.
But when they returned for the third, the more experienced – though younger, at 26 – Paul used his mental strength and pounced on an early opportunity to break for 2-0. The window wasn’t open wide, but wide enough for Paul to crawl through. He played with heightened focus down the stretch, careful not to wake the sleeping giant in Giron again, and slipped away to victory without ever facing another break point.
“That was a pretty unbelievable match,” Paul said, after improving 2-2 in ATP finals and 2-1 against Giron at tour level. “Best final I’ve ever played.”
After the first all-American ATP final since Tokyo 2022 Tokyo (Fritz d Tiafoe), Paul had high praise for Giron, who was bidding for his first ATP title and a new career-high ranking.
“Marcos, I was watching you all week this week, you were playing unbelievable tennis,” Paul said. “It was so fun to watch you play and it's cool. I know your team and you very well. We played through the Challengers like you said the other day, so it's really cool to be playing in the finals of a Tour event now and hopefully we can keep doing it, keep moving up for many more matches just like that. That was unbelievable.”
Giron will have to wait for his title, but he can take pride in a brilliant week that saw him notch back-to-back Top 20 wins over Frances Tiafoe and Adrian Mannarino.
“I have no regrets,” he told the crowd after the final, a smile of pride emerging on his face.
Paul improves to 7-2 on the young season, while Giron drops to 4-3.