Marcel Granollers floors Fernando Verdasco in the Final – Suisse Open Gstaad 2011
Spanish tennis pro Marcel Granollers defeated Fernando Verdasco6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the final of 2011 Credit Agricole Suisse Open here in Gstaad, Switzerland.
Granollers timed his shots to perfection and created all sorts of problems for his opponent in a match that lasted for more than 2 hours and 25 minutes on the clay courts of Gstaad. The Spaniard started off very positively as he
looked to create break opportunities for himself.
The match was played on an extremely competitive note as both players struggled to break each other throughout. Granollers grabbed the only break opportunity of the first set with both hands to take a crucial 4-2 lead. Holding
on to his next two serves, he took the set score lead.
Trailing the game score at 4-5, Verdasco had two set points in the first set but he could not convert any of them and hence paid the heavy price.
Looking down and out, world number 20 needed a miracle to get back into the contest. He worked hard for very available point in the match and converted one of the break points to lead by 5-3. Converting a long rally in his favour,
he evened the set score 1-1 as the match entered a very exciting phase.
Granollers raised the level of his game and executed his game plan to perfection in the final set. After both players held on to their first two serve games, the game score reached 2-2 in the decider. Granollers converted the only
break point in the set to race to 5-2 lead. Holding on to his service game, he completed a memorable victory.
It must be said that Granollers was the deserving winner. He was the braver of the two players. He will be feeling very happy about the way he has played over the last week or so and he clinched first ATP title of his career.
Winner of 5 ATP titles, Verdasco was disappointed with the result. He played a very good match but it just wasn’t his day. Surely, he will come back strongly in his next appearance of the ATP tour.
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