"Hometown" heroes Krajicek, Monroe come through in Houston

HIGHLIGHTS: Novak Djokovic d. Kevin Anderson, 6-2, 6-2

HOUSTON — The Texas ties run deep for doubles standouts Nicholas Monroe and Austin Krajicek as the former lives in Austin, while the latter played college tennis at Texas A&M and still lives in College Station.

Perhaps it’s only fitting that they’d team up this week for the tournament in Houston, part of the Oracle Challenger Series, and come away with the title.

The top-seeded duo defeated Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and fellow American Jamie Cerretani, 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-5, to win their first title together, having lost two Challenger finals back in 2015.

Arevalo and Cerretani started off strong, but Monroe felt they were right there with them, despite dropping the first set.

“They were playing great tennis at the very beginning,” the world No. 70 said. “We came out and we were playing well as well.”

He and Krajicek went up a break in the second, but their opponents rallied to force a tiebreak. The all-American duo clinched it 7-3, riding through the momentum swings in the back-and-forth set.

"We stayed positive,” Monroe said. “We wanted to be a bit more aggressive and look to use our feet a little bit more. The key was just staying positive and knowing that we could do it if we stayed positive with each other.”

With youth football games being played at the Rice University stadium and loud music blaring from the sound system, an unlikely soundtrack provided the backdrop for the ensuing match tiebreak—when it eventually started.

Arevalo and Cerretani left the court before play resumed, which prompted some discussion between Krajicek and Monroe, and the chair umpire. When play did resume, Monroe and Krajicek went up 3-0 before Cerretani—the most vocally pumped-up player on the court—brought it to 3-2. Up 4-3, a bit of controversy sprung up when Arevalo hit a smash long, but it wasn’t clear if Krajicek touched it before it landed. The point went in the American’s favor, then Monroe ripped a return down the line off a serve Cerretani thought was a let.

Eventually earning multiple match points at 9-4, Monroe hit a double fault on the first one, but clinched it on the next try with an overhead to give him and Krajicek the championship.

Both of them had an impressive season as Monroe won his first ATP title in three years in Atlanta, while Krajicek entered the winners’ circle for the first time in Moscow a few weeks ago. Now, they’ll head into the offseason on a high note.

“There’s nothing better than finishing with a win,” Krajicek said. “Obviously, when you play tennis, there’s not many weeks in the year typically that you finish with a win so to do it in the last week is a great feeling.

“I think it’s going to help both Nick and I have a great 2019,” he added.

And despite not playing together any this year, there was still a familiarity that helped carry them through the week.

“We’ve been good friends for a long time and we’ve played together before, so obviously the connection was there immediately,” Monroe said. “We just wanted to have fun together in the last week, and hopefully have a good week, and we did.”

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