American Tennys Sandgren claimed his first ATP tour title on Saturday with a comprehensive straight sets victory over Briton Cameron Norrie in the final of the Auckland Classic.
The 27-year-old Sandgren took just 79 minutes to beat Norrie 6-4, 6-2 to complete a week of tennis without dropping a set.
In a tournament in which none of the seeded players made it to the final four, Sandgren was playing only his second ATP final – having lost in Houston last year – while it was the first for wildcard entrant Norrie.
The nerves showed with 29 unforced errors from Norrie and 17 from Sandgren, a quarter-finalist in the Australian Open last year.
Norrie was in trouble at the start of the final when he dropped his serve in the opening game of the match.
The New Zealand-raised Briton broke back to level at 2-2 then immediately dropped his serve a second time and Sandgren went on to complete the set with an ace.
Sandgren had too much power and accuracy for Norrie in the second set breaking him twice before securing the title when Norrie hit a service return over the baseline.
It was the first time Sandgren has beaten Norrie in their past four encounters although Norrie still leads their head-to-head count at 4-3.
Sandgren, ranked 63 in the world and the last player accepted into the main draw of the tournament, beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2 in the semis.
