NEWPORT — A pair of practice partners from earlier in the week will meet again on Sunday afternoon, and this time the circumstances will be rather different.
Alex Michelsen and Marcos Giron will square off for the right to lift the Van Alen Cup, the prize awarded to the champion of the Infosys Hall of Fame Open.
It will be a first career tour-level title for Michelsen or Giron, and it will come at the final edition of the event in its current ATP format. Michelsen cruised through his Saturday semifinal while Giron battled through three sets under milky sunshine at the Newport Casino. Reilly Opelka and Christopher Eubanks were swept aside by a teenager on the rise and a veteran enjoying something of a midcareer breakout.
“Super happy with the win,” Michelsen said.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Giron said. “I’ve been playing well on grass, so I’m really happy.”
Michelsen is back in his second straight final here after a 6-2, 6-0 dismissal of wild card Opelka. The 19-year-old needed barely an hour thanks to five breaks of serve in seven return games, including all three in the second set. Michelsen broke at love to 2-0, cashed in on his third chance to 4-0 and converted on a second match point.
“I returned unreal, I thought,” Michelsen said. “The ball felt unreal off the strings. My first serve (return) percentage must have been high.”
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Michelsen survived a few early bumps against Opelka, saving all three break points on his own serve while taking the opening set. Opelka was coming off three consecutive three-set wins, including an upset of No. 1 seed and defending champion Adrian Mannarino in the Round of 16. This event went from its 1976 founding through John Isner’s title run in 2011 without a top seed prevailing and the so-called Casino Curse flashed its teeth one last time.
“He could have easily broken me,” Michelsen said. “I came up with the goods when I needed to in the beginning.
“That could have been a whole different match. You never know.”
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Michelsen was still weighing a decision to turn professional or honor his college commitment to Georgia when he authored last year’s run. His routine semifinal victory over Isner — a four-time champion at this event and Bulldogs alum — felt like something of a tipping point. Michelsen dropped the final in straight sets against Mannarino but won a rematch during a quarterfinal run on grass at Mallorca this season.
“Just staying solid from the baseline,” Michelsen said. “I think I made one or two unforced errors the whole match. Those were the keys.”
Michelsen could join Greg Rusedski (1993) as the only teenage winners at this event, but Giron promises to put up a fight. He served brilliantly in the opening set and played the important points well enough in the third to pull away from Eubanks, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
“I was able to play well in those pressure moments again,” Giron said. “For me to make it to the finals of another ATP tournament is amazing.”
Giron lost just two of 17 points on his first serve in the opener before Eubanks blitzed to a 3-0 lead in the second. Giron got back on serve but was broken at 4-3 to force the last of three matches on the stadium court to the limit. Eubanks was broken to 2-0 in the third and couldn’t convert a break point at 3-1 that might have turned the tide.
“It’s good to see that my game can stand up against the best in the world,” Giron said. “I know that I have the level, but to actually do it is another thing.”
Giron was down 3-0 in the third set to Benoit Paire in his opening match before rallying to victory. The 30-year-old lost just five games in a quarterfinal rout of Alex Bolt and held his nerve late here to reach a second final of the season and third of his career.
Giron fell to fellow Americans in each of those two previous title appearances — Brandon Nakashima at San Diego in 2022 and Tommy Paul at Dallas in February.
“My stay here could have been quite short,” Giron said. “I’m really happy with how I’ve been able to compete through my matches.”
Michelsen and Giron won’t start before 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. They’ll be preceded by the doubles final at noon between Robert Cash-James Tracy and Andre Goransson-Sem Verbeek. Cash-Tracy punched their ticket with a Friday semifinal win and Goransson-Verbeek opened Saturday with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 triumph over Australian pair Luke Saville-Aleksandar Vukic.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On X: @BillKoch25
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: The final is set at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open; who will play for the Van Alen Cup
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