Fyrstenberg/Gonzalez Retain Memphis Title

Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Santiago Gonzalez have found a second home in Memphis, successfully defending their doubles title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey.

Fyrstenberg and Gonzalez claimed their first team title last year at the Memphis Open presented by ServiceMaster and nearly failed to retain the trophy, having faced three match points in a marathon 28-point Match Tie-break on Saturday. The Polish-Mexican duo would survive the test from Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin and needed just 55 minutes to dispatch their fourth seeded American opponents on Sunday.

“It’s amazing,” said Gonzalez. “It’s not every day you can come back to the same tournament and win it again. It’s a tough tournament with great players. We are very happy to have the title again for confidence going into the next one.

“I have two kids, so one guitar for each kid. Hopefully next year I can come back and win another.”

The winning team secured the lone breaks of the match in the seventh games of both sets. Johnson and Querrey fought off two match points while serving down 5-3 in the second and another in the following game, but were unable to fend off a fourth. They fired eight aces and won 85 per cent of first serve points, while not facing a break point.

“It’s great to never lose matches here in Memphis,” added Fyrstenberg. “It’s nice, especially after last season with the injuries. I had three injuries and Santiago had two. Hopefully this year will be injury-free and we’ll be going up in the [Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings].”

It was Fyrstenberg’s 18th ATP World Tour doubles title in his 43rd final. He has now won at least one title in 13 of the last 14 years. For Gonzalez, it was title No. 11 in 16 finals. They split $33,400 and earn 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

Johnson, meanwhile, was contesting his second ATP World Tour doubles final, having finished runner-up with Querrey in Atlanta in 2014. Querrey dropped to 4-6 in what was his 10th final. He was bidding to win his first title since Houston 2012 (w/Blake).