Tomas Berdych defeats Gael Monfils to claim the championship title – Open Sud de France 2012
Top seed Czech competitor, Tomas Berdych, outplayed the third seed home favourite, Gael Monfils, in the final of the Open Sud de France on Sunday night. The world number seven reigned in the two hour and five-minute battle to get
his hands on his seventh ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) championship trophy. The final scores were 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, in favour of the Czech number one.
It was already anticipated that the superior-ranked Berdych will come out as the winner but it wasn’t an easy task for him. The world number 13, Monfils, gave him some real tough time in the contest but was not good enough to tackle
the belligerent game play of the top seed opponent. Berdych blasted his way through the opening set to assert authority early in the game but a strong reply came from the third seed French in the very next set to have an impact on the matchup. The Czech number
one regained momentum in the final set to crush the local hopes, lifting the ATP World Tour 250-level trophy in Montpellier, France.
"I expected a tough final. I felt he was the best player on the other side of the draw," Berdych said. “It was a close match, decided by one or two points. I'm happy that I was the one to become the champion and get the last break
and finish it with my serve."
Local crowd at the Arena Montpellier witnessed a brilliant exhibition of high quality tennis action, with two of the finest athletes in the game battling it hard for glory. There was not much difference in the overall match stats
of the two contestants, except the break point conversions made from both sides. The top seed Czech crafted 10 break opportunities and converted three of them to get the better of Monfils, who barely registered one serve break in the entire matchup to finish
on the losing side in the end. The Frenchman had a sublime run in the tournament but couldn’t deliver the final touch in the Sunday’s match to clinch the championship title.
“I was really close today, maybe Tomas was a bit more successful at the end,” assessed Monfils. “He really went for it more than I did and it worked. To me, overall it was a great week. I played solid tennis in all my matches,
even today I am very happy with the way I played.”
Berdych added another coveted title to his tally and continues with his goal of climbing to the top of the ATP world rankings.
Tags: