American Jack Sock had to battle both man and mother nature to secure his first career ATP title.
Sock, appearing in his first ATP World Tour final, withstood a near three-hour rain delay before dispatching fellow American and eighth-seeded Sam Querrey 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-2) at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship.
Play was suspended in the first set with Querrey up 5-4. After a couple of hours, the two players resumed play and Sock managed to battle his way to the first set win after a lengthy tiebreak.
Querrey got his second break of the match to go up 4-3 in the second set, but again Sock responded with an immediate break to tie it up. Sock cruised to the win in the tiebreak, serving out the match to earn $88,800.
Sock won the title by beating No. 2 seeded Roberto Bautista, No. 5 Santiago Giraldo and third-seeded Kevin Anderson before taking down his compatriot.
Querrey, the 2010 Houston runner-up, fell to 7-6 in his 13th career final. His last one came three years ago in Los Angeles when he beat Ricardas Berankis.
It was the first all-American final in Houston since Andre Agassi beat Andy Roddick in 2003.
[SportsNetwork.com]
