Gilles Simon overcomes Nicolas Almagro to clinch title- German Tennis Championships 2011
Fifth seed Gilles Simon of France captured his second title of the season and ninth of his career as he rallied past third seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the final at the German Tennis Championships
in Hamburg on Sunday. The French grabbed the match in two hours and 38 minutes.
Simon broke the Spaniard in the fifth game and held his serve in the next game to grab a 4-2 lead. Almagro had a chance to break back immediately but he failed to utilise a break point at 30-40. Serving for the set at 5-4, Simon
was down three break points at 0-40 but he claimed five straight points to hold his serve and win the set 6-4. The French saved all the eight break points he faced and converted one of the five break points on the Spaniard’s serve in the first set.
Almagro came roaring into the second set, breaking the French in the second game and holding his next service game to grab a 3-0 lead. The Spaniard had a chance for double break but he missed a couple of break points in the fourth
game. Simon then fought back and clinched four consecutive games, breaking Almagro in the fifth and seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. After that, it was all Almagro show as the Spaniard regained his form to break the French in the eighth and tenth game, bagging
the set 6-4. The right-handed fired four aces and claimed 75 percent of the first service points in the second set.
Simon made a good start in the deciding set as he broke Almagro in the opening game and consolidated on it to go ahead 2-0. The Frenchman comfortably held all of his service games and maintained his lead throughout the set. The
six feet tall served out the set in the tenth game, claiming it 6-4.
Talking to the reporters in the post match press conference, a triumphal Simon said, "I feel very, very good. I had to win so many tough matches this week. Today, the final was really hard to win. I had to play my best tennis to
win and I'm proud to win this tournament."
The French said, commenting on the match, "It was a high intensity final. I think Nicolas played very good tennis, very consistent. I knew before he could hit very hard, but also, he didn't miss anything, so I really had to fight
hard on every point. We played almost three hours and it was a really, really hard match."
The Neuchatel, Switzerland resident received €230,000 as prize money and 500 South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking points.
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