Nicolas Almagro thrashes Brian Baker to win title – Open de Nice Côte d'Azur 2012
Third seed, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, grabbed his second title of the season, as he ended the giant killing run of American qualifier, Brian Baker, in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in the Open de Nice Côte d'Azur final on Saturday. The
Spaniard, who is ranked 14th in the world, took just an hour and nine minutes to win the contest.
Almagro and Baker made a steady start to the match, holding their serve in the first six games of the opening set to take the score to 3-3. It was all Almagro show later on, as he broke the American in the seventh and ninth, capturing
three successive games and winning it 6-3.
The Spaniard served exceptionally well, as he bombarded eight aces and 80 percent of the first serves, converting 14 of the 16 of them into points in the opener. The 26-year-old performed quite well on the returns as well, securing
12 of the 29 first and five of the nine second reply points.
The start to second set was not that stable, as Almagro snatched a break in the third game and consolidated on it to move ahead 3-1. Serving to stay in the match at 2-5, Baker once again dropped his serve and lost it 2-6.
Almagro’s performance on serve dropped a bit, as he hit just three aces and also committed one double fault this time. The Spaniard kept his first delivery percentage at merely 63 but his conversion rate was impressive, winning
15 of the 17 points on them. The Murcia, Spain resident put away the only break threat he came across and utilised two of the four opportunities he received in the second set.
Giving an interview after the match, Almagro said, "I played my best tennis in two years here. I am very happy with my serve and my forehand. I moved on the court very, very well. Today, was one of those matches you want to keep
in your mind for the rest of the season, because I couldn't have played much better. Today was amazing. I am happy with my form, my tennis and my team.”
On the other hand, Baker said, "It was a really tough match. He always seems to play pretty well. He didn't make many unforced errors and I think he seemed to have a high first serve percentage.”
The clay specialist, Almagro, won his previous title of this season at the Brasil Open.
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