ESTORIL OPEN 2012
Estoril, Portugal
by ATP Staff
|
06.05.2012
Top-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro successfully defended his Estoril Open title on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over second seed and 2007 runner-up Richard Gasquet of France in 87 minutes. It was the first No. 1 seed versus No. 2 seed final in four years (Federer-Davydenko) at the Estadio Nacional. The final
Del Potro became the third player in the 23-year-old history of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tournament to win back-to-back titles. He joined Spaniard Albert Montanes (2009-10), who he beat in this year's quarter-finals, and former World No. 1 Thomas Muster (1995-96).
The 23-year-old Tandil native earned €71,900 in prize money and 250 South African Airways ATP Ranking points, while Gasquet went home with €37,860 and 150 points. It was del Potro's 11th tour-level title (11-5 lifetime and 4-0 on clay).
Del Potro, who beat Gasquet in the Open 13 quarter-finals at Marseille in February, broke his opponent to love in the opening game. Gasquet came under further pressure at 1-3, when del Potro's power from the baseline forced one break point opportunity at 30/40. Gasquet saved it by charging the net for a forehand volley winner.
While del Potro experienced few problems in holding serve, the reverse was true for Gasquet. At 2-4, the Frenchman saved two break points, but del Potro's consistency in long baseline rallies continued to force Gasquet into several errors. Del Potro regularly had Gasquet striking his groundstrokes from three yards behind the baseline.
The World No. 12 sealed the set with a love hold in 54 minutes. In four service games he'd lost seven points on serve. Gasquet had lost 20 of his service points.
Del Potro broke in the first game of the second set, converting his third break point chance with a forehand winner down the line into space. He took a 4-1 lead, with yet another powerful forehand winner and went onto record his fourth straight win in five minutes over Gasquet. It was del Potro's 27th match win of 2012 (27-6 record).
Del Potro dropped 22 games in four matches en route to the title. He held serve 33 of 35 games and won 15 of 34 return games during the week.
The 25-year-old Gasquet dropped to 6-9 in ATP World Tour finals (2-5 on clay). He finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the 2007 Estoril Open final.
No comments:
Post a Comment