Giron tops Cal's Goransson for 25K Berkeley title

Marcos Giron, the 2014 NCAA singles
champion, missed the first 8 1/2 months
of this year with an injury. 2015 photo by
Paul Bauman

   Unseeded Marcos Giron of Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area outlasted wild card Andre Goransson of Sweden 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-4 today to win the $25,000 Berkeley Futures at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
   Goransson, a Cal senior, was playing on his home courts.
   The 23-year-old Giron, who missed the first 8 1/2 months of this year with an injury, won his fourth Futures singles title and first since 2014. He has never won a Challenger title.
   Listed at only 5-foot-11 (1.80 meters) and 165 pounds (75 kilograms), Giron reached the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Sacramento Challenger as a qualifier last October. The following month, he beat then-No. 74 John Millman of Australia en route to the quarterfinals of the $50,000 Canberra (Australia) Challenger.
   Giron turned pro after winning the 2014 NCAA singles title as a UCLA junior.
   In Saturday's doubles final, top-seeded Connor Smith and Rhyne Williams, both of Tampa, Fla., beat unseeded Goransson and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-3.
   Verbeek, a 6-foot-3 (1.91-meter) left-hander, was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year in April as a Pacific senior.
   Giron also is entered in next week's $25,000 Broadway Tennis Center Futures in Burlingame, near San Francisco International Airport. The main draw is scheduled to begin Tuesday.