Juan Ignacio Chela completes BCR Open Double
Fourth seed Juan Ignacio Chela completed a double sweep on Sunday in Bucharest as he toppled Spanish counterpart Pablo Andujar in the singles final of the BCR Open Romania with a score was 7-5 and 6-1. Only a day earlier, Juan had teamed up with Lukasz Kubot
to capture the doubles trophy at the ATP World Tour 250 clay court championship.
"It was an unbelievable week winning in both singles and doubles. I didn't expect that. The beginning of the year was pretty tough for me so I'm very happy that I'm playing at such a great level now. I enjoy the circuit a lot,” declared Chela on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Juan is the third contender this year to have triumphed in both singles and doubles title battles at an ATP World Tour competition, following his American counterpart Sam Querrey in Memphis and Michael Llodra in Marseille. After winning the
singles crown, Juan received 250 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points along with a win bonus of €66,580.
Juan, who’s ranked at the 53rd spot in the world, grabbed his sixth ATP World Tour crown and the second of the year, after defeating Sam Querrey in the Houston final on clay earlier this season in April. Interestingly, all six of his trophies
were won on clay courts. Chela is one of the four tennis players to have captured an ATP World Tour crown in 2010 at an age of over 30 years. The list includes Michael Llodra’s win in Eastbourne, Juan Carlos Ferrero winning in Umag and Ivan Ljubicic clinching
the title at Indian Wells.
"I always used to be quiet on court, but now I have even more experience and that helps especially when you prepare for an important match. My goal is to do well during the Asian swing as well as in the European indoor events and try to finish the year in
the Top 30,” explained Juan after his victory on Sunday.
The Argentinean tennis ace bounced back on two occasions from a service break down in the opening set versus first time finalist Pablo Andujar before breaking decisively during the 12th game to secure a one set lead. The following set was a straightforward
one for the experienced Juan, who did well to capitalize on his momentum to break serve during the second and sixth games to record a win in Bucharest. The match concluded in a time of 88 minutes on Sunday.
The Buenos Aires native, who is a former world number 15, is the first player from Argentina to have won the Bucharest title since Jose Acasuso back in 2004. Juan has also spent a total of 47 weeks inside the top 20 world rankings.
Pablo, on the other hand, who is ranked at number 105 in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals, reached his first ATP World Tour final after successfully qualifying for the main draw before upsetting second seeded Florian Mayer in the second
round of the BCR Open Romania. The Valencia resident was aiming to register his name as the 8th Spanish to win an ATP World Tour crown this year.
"I tried to play aggressively since I knew that long points would not help me after the long match last night. I had my chances in the first set, but then I had a low at the beginning of the second set,” explained Pablo, who earlier required over three hours
to fight past Marcel Granollers in the semi-final match of the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest.
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