The beauty of Newport’s ATP-250 event is mired in tennis history. Not many people know that the first US National Lawn Tennis Championship was played at Newport, Rhode Island in 1881. Later, the legendary grass courts took the shape of the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum and the tournament itself evolved into the US Open and it shifted from Newport to Forest Hills several years layer and became a hard-court tournament. The US Open is currently held at Flushing Meadows but the Newport Grass Court event is still intact and it has its lovers. It has been categorized as an ATP250 event and since it is staged immediately after the Wimbledon, it attracts only ATP’s second-tier players and especially those, who make early exit from Wimbledon. Be that as it may, this year’s men’s singles was won by American Rajeev Ram for the second time in his tennis career. Ram defeated Croatia’s big-serving second seed Ivo Karlovic in three sets on Sunday. In the men’s doubles final, the British/Pakistani pair of Jonathan Marray/Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi came from one set down to secure the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships doubles title after beating the unseeded American/Croatian combination Nicholas Monroe and Mate Pavic.
In the doubles final, third seeded Jonathan Marray of Britain and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan defeated the American/Croatian combo of Nicholas Monroe/Mate Pavic. The British/Pakistani duo lost the first set but bounce back to take the next. Then the two pairs got engaged in the match tiebreaker before Marray/Qureshi clinched the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships 4-6, 6-3, 10-8.