2011 Henieken Open: David Ferrer ousts David Nalbandian to win his 10th career title
The 28-year-old David Ferrer of Spain completed his Australian Open preparations on a high by winning the 2011 Henieken Open title on Saturday. The top seeded Spaniard got the better of former World number 3 David Nalbandian of
Argentine in straight sets to secure his tenth ATP World Tour career title in Auckland. The final match score was 6-4, 6-2. The battle lasted for a time period of sixty eighty minutes.
Both the players share a history of tight clashes against each other, however, this final surprisingly turned out to be a single sided affair in the end.
World number 7, Ferrer, played superbly without making too many unforced errors whereas Nalbandian on the other hand committed a number of unforced errors throughout the title battle.
In the opening set, Ferrer turned things around for himself after securing an important break during the eighth game and then held on to his serve in the next game to clinch a lead of one set. Ferrer, all through the first set,
served extremely well as he won 76% of the points on his first serve. The right hander also made eleven unforced errors before clinching a lead of one set at 6-4 in thirty seven minutes.
The trend continued in the decisive set as Ferrer did not allow his opponent to bounce back at any stage and broke him during the fifth and seventh game to move forward and win the title.
Both the players will now head to Melbourne to play at the season opening Grand Slam event starting this Monday, where they are also expected to face each other in the third round, provided they make it that far.
Nalbandian will start his tournament’s campaign against former number one Australian Lleyton Hewitt whereas Ferrer will take on Jarkko Niemenen of Finland in the Aussie opener.
Meanwhile, in the doubles action, the second seed duo of Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers also posted a two setter victory to pick up the Heineken Open doubles crown on Saturday. They overpowered Stephen Huss and Johan Brunston
6-4, 7-6.
It was Tommy’s fourth career doubles crown whereas Granollers, as a result of this victory, picked up his sixth doubles title on the tour.
Tags: