2010 Valencia Open 500; David Ferrer lifts title in title in Spain
The Spaniard tennis ace David Ferrer registered a huge victory on Sunday in his attempt to qualify for the season ending finale in London, winning his hometown crown at the 2010 Valencia Open 500 Men’s singles competition with a two-setter win over Marcel Granollers. The final match score was 7-5, 6-3.
The win at the ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard-court tennis competition gives the 28-year- old Ferrer 200 points to add to his season-to-date total. Three spots are still up for grabs in the elite eight-man field in London at the prestigious event, which is going to start from 21st November.
The right-handed Ferrer, who made his debut on the ATP World Tour back in 2000, captured his second ATP World Tour crown in 2010, having also won on clay in Acapulco after getting the better of Juan Carlos Ferrero earlier this season. The Valencia resident also finished as finalist in Buenos Aires, Rome and Beijing.
It was the ninth ATP singles trophy of Ferrer’s professional career and his first at an indoor hard-court competition.
“This is one of the happiest days of my life. It is hard to find the words. It is very special and I am very glad to win at home. It is also very special for me as I have a good chance for London now as well. Even though I am not yet mathematically qualified, it gives me a lot of confidence,” declared Ferrer after his victory on Sunday.
It was the first all-Spanish indoor title battle on the ATP World Tour in ten years. World number seven Ferrer squandered a chance to serve for the opening set at 5-3; however, he made changes as he broke his opponent’s serve again during the twelfth game to take a lead of one set. The professional tennis player from Spain then converted his only break point opportunity of the decisive set in the second game and went on to seal win in the end. The battle lasted for a period of one hour and forty-nine minutes on Sunday.
When asked about his opponent, the former world number four Ferrer added that he played a good tight battle until the very end and it was a close match. The Spaniard, however, returned well and played better than his opponent without any measure of speculation.
The 1.75 meters tall also won his local crown back in 2008 after overpowering Nicolas Almagro, when it was a spring clay-court tournament and ended as finalist five years ago to Igor Andreev. He owns a lifetime mark of 17-4 in Valencia.
Marcel, on the other hand, who entered into the main draw of the event as a lucky loser after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired from the event, missed just a single set while making his way into the title battle at the Valencia Open. Marcel is the second lucky loser in two weeks to advance into an ATP World Tour final. The other lucky loser, Andreas Haider-Maurer, also finished as runner-up in Vienna few days ago. Marcel, a lucky loser, was looking to register his name as the first one to capture a crown since Rajeev Ram in Newport back in 2009.
Previously ranked number 67 in the South African Airways ATP list, Marcel has now improved his ranking to number 45 because of his runner-up performance in Valencia.
“Unfortunately I lost today, but it was still a great week and I am very happy. It was a good match, however David was very solid and he played better than me today. Still, it has been a good week and I would like to continue like this. Getting to the final of a 500 competition gives me a lot of confidence for the future,” reflected Marcel on Sunday.
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