David Ferrer defeats Marcel Granollers to claim Valencia Open title
David Ferrer overcame fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers to win the Valencia Open on Sunday, 7 November.
Ferrer, who was making his fourth final appearance of the season, won the game 7–5 6–3.
The win was the Spaniard's second of the season after emerging victorious in Acapulco in February, and he is now very close to qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals in London later in November.
"This is one of the happiest days of my life," the Valencia-based Ferrer said after the game. "It's hard to find the words. It's very special and I'm very happy to win at home. It's 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."
Ferrer the one to break
Granollers earned himself break points during Ferrer's second service game in the first set, but the Catalan failed to break his opponent.
Instead it was Ferrer, ranked eigth in the world, who broke in the eighth game of the set to earn a 5–3 lead.
Granollers, who dropped only one set on his way to the final after entering the tournament in place of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, did well to fight back and level the score at 5–5.
But Ferrer, who failed to win the finals in Rome and Buenos Aires earlier this season, came back to win the first set 7–5.
The second set was never as close, with Ferrer breaking once to earn a 3–0 from the start.
Granollers fended off further breaks from the 28-year-old, but could not manage any himself as the game finished 6–3 to Ferrer after one hour and 49 minutes.
"It was a very tough match today," Ferrer said after the comfortable victory that followed his semi-final triumph over Robin Soderling. "I returned very well, got one break in the second set. There were
a lot of great rallies and tough points."
Three spots left in London
With Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Soderling all already qualified, Ferrer is competing with Tomas Berdych, Andy Roddick, Mikhail Youzhny, Jurgen Melzer and Fernando Verdasco
for one of the three remaining places in London. Ferrer is currently seventh, with Roddick one spot behind him. Berdych is in sixth.
More ATP Ranking points will be up for grabs at the Paris Masters, which runs 7–14 November. The winner of the competition will earn 1000 points, while the runner-up will claim 600.
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