Brooksby wins maiden ATP crown after beating Tiafoe

Jenson Brooksby claimed his first ATP Tour title in supreme style this week at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. Beginning as a qualifying wild card, the 24-year-old American completed his dramatic run Sunday with a 6-4, 6-2 final victory against second seed and 2023 Houston champ Frances Tiafoe.

After saving match point in three matches en route to the title — one in the qualifying first round, three against third seed Alejandro Tabilo in the main-draw second round and one against top seed Tommy Paul in the semi-finals — Brooksby left no doubt in a brilliant final performance.

“Thank you to my team. All the way from qualifying, match point down,” Brooksby said during the trophy ceremony. “That’s pretty intense, so thanks for sticking with it, every match, every day here for me.”

The finalists emerged from an all-American quarter-final lineup on home soil, the first time since 1991 (Orlando) that Americans occupied all eight quarter-final spots at an ATP Tour event.

“The support has been amazing since Round 1 of qualifying,” added Brooksby, who is now 3-3 against Top 20 players this season. “Thank you, everybody. I’ve loved the support here and it’s great to be back in Texas.”

Having entered the week at No. 507 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Brooksby is the third-lowest-ranked champion in ATP Tour history (since 1990). He has moved up 335 places to No. 172 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings behind his title run, trending back toward his career-high of World No. 33 in 2022.

While Brooksby became the sixth first-time champion this season on the ATP Tour, Tiafoe was denied his fourth tour-level title as he dropped to 3-7 in finals. He lost to Ben Shelton in last year’s Houston final after he beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the 2023 title match.

Tiafoe was bidding to become the fourth man to win multiple titles at the ATP 250 event since it moved to Houston in 2001 — after Andy Roddick (2001-02, 2005), Juan Monaco (2012, 2016) and Steve Johnson (2017-18).