Gilles Simon dumps Fabio Fognini to clinch third title in Bucharest – BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy 2012
As it was already anticipated, the top seed Frenchman, Gilles Simon, cruised through the final of the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy, beating Italy’s Fabio Fognini to complete his hat-trick of titles in Bucharest, Romania. Climbing
to the 11th spot in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings after his title victory, Simon settled the clash in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to come out as the deserving champion.
It was Simon’s 21st victory in the running ATP season and the fourth consecutive one against Fognini in singles encounters. The 48th ranked Italian had a memorable run in Bucharest to reach the final of the
clay-court event but couldn’t sustain his heroics in the big match against the French tennis ace. He posed limited resistance in the contest and kept frittering away priceless opportunities throughout the match to finish on the losing side in the end.
Simon won back-to-back titles here in 2007 and 2008 but then abandoned this clay court event. He made his thumping comeback to Bucharest this time and went on to lift his third BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in style. He is now 15-1
at this particular tournament and has improved one place up in the ATP World Rankings, moving closer to the Top-10.
"It’s great," said Simon after his emphatic victory, "I played a great match today. It was very difficult; Fabio played well and I had to run a lot today. You really have the feeling that you are never in control of the game. I’m
always happy when I win a tournament like this because sometimes people think it will be easy when you’re the No. 1 seed, but on the court it’s very close every time. I’m very proud to win this tournament for the third time and to bring the trophy back home."
It was a fairly one-sided contest, with the top seeded Frenchman dominating for most of the time. Simon clinched 25 out of 39 first serve points and broke his opponent’s serve five out of 12 times en route to victory. He further
caused great damage to Fognini by winning 35 out of 74 return points on the Italian’s serve and winning both sets with commanding ease. Fognini squandered away 10 break opportunities and registered just two breakthroughs before submitting to the fury of the
top seed French. A total of 146 points were played in the match, with Simon winning 78 and his opponent following him with 68 points.
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