No. 3 seed Steve Johnson rolled into the final in Newport, where he will meet surprise first-time finalist Ramkumar Ramanathan.
Johnson, who became the heavy favorite after becoming the only top 100 player to reach the semifinals, displayed that status in his 6-3, 6-2 victory over Marcel Granollers. Ramanathan had a similarly smooth performance, knocking out Tim Smyczek 6-4, 7-5.
Johnson played a consistently better match than Granollers, losing just seven points on serve and facing no break points across an hour and nine minutes. He won the first 14 points on his serve, adding the lone break of the first set in that stretch, before earning three set points on the Spaniard’s serve.
Granollers dug out of that 0-40 hole, but he whacked a short ball into the net on the American’s serve to hand Johnson the early edge. The world No. 48, who could move up 14 spots with the title, stayed aggressive. He struck a sublime running forehand pass to set up break point at 1-2, which he converted when Granollers again found the net.
The Houston champion played his way to three break points in each of Granollers’ next two service games, but the 32-year-old from Barcelona fought them off to extend the match. He finally caved to the pressure, however, as Johnson lofted a pinpoint return and Granollers knocked a forehand long to close out the match.
Ramanathan, meanwhile, excelled at the ends of his match: He broke the American’s first and last service games as the two played evenly through the other 19 games.
Ramanathan took advantage of missed Smyczek first serves in the opening game and displayed his trademark net prowess, securing the only break he needed. The American eventually got more looks on Ramanathan’s serve, but never reached break point as the 23-year-old Indian closed out the set with a pair of big serves.
The world No. 161, who will at least match his career high of 115 next week, could not consolidate an early second serve break. Two games later, Smyczek converted his eighth break point of the game when Ramanathan dinked a forehand into the net, but the Indian hit a running pass to break back immediately.
Smyczek paired a double fault and weak forehand from 30-30 at 5-6, allowing Ramanathan to serve out the match with his seventh ace of the match. He saved eight of 10 break points and won an even two-thirds of points on his serve, an impressive tally for a serve-and-volley specialist.
