Simon wins Hamburg title

"Landep News"

Simon wins Hamburg title

Gilles Simon has won his ninth title of career when the Frenchman beat Nicolas Almagro in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the Hamburg final on Sunday. The German success is also his second of the season after the Sydney title.

Simon broke the Spaniard four times, finishing the game with a 59 first service percentage, six aces and a 59 winning percentage of service points, compared to the three-title Almagro who had nine aces, three break point conversions out of 18 chances and a 41 return percentage. Both committed one double fault, each, while the Spanish player had a 58 first serve percentage. The head to head series between the two have now gone 2-1 to the world number 11 who had previously beaten the 25-year-old at the 2010 Davis Cup. On the other side, tenth favorite’s last victory still dates from 2006 when Almagro beat Simon at home in Valencia.

Said Simon: “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… I think Nicolas played very good tennis, very consistent.. We played almost three hours and it was a really hard match.”

Simon, who needed two hours and 40 minutes to stun the Spaniard, had previously ousted Mikhail Youzhny in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the semi finals, compatriot and top seed Gael Monfils 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in the quarters, Jarkko Nieminen 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 in the third term and Segiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-1 in the second one.

As for Almagro, he had previously eliminated conational Fernando Verdasco in two sets 6-4, 6-1 in the semi finals, Florian Mayer 7-6, 7-6 in the quarters, this term’s Halle champion and another crowd favorite Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5 in the third round and Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-4 in his debut in Hamburg.

He is to line up at the Swiss event in Gstaad, where he will start the tournament as main favorite, alongside crowd favorite Stanislas Wawrinka. Roger Federer will not be present in Gstaad, though he used to do so for years.

Hamburg’s success brought the Frenchman a 230,000 euro check as well as 500 points ATP, while Almagro, winner of this termţs Costa do Sauipe, Buenos Aires and Nice events, received 104,850 euro and 300 points.

Hamburg Prize Money and points:

Winner – 230,00 euro and 500 points ATP

Runner-up – 104,850 euro and 300 points ATP

Semi finalist – 48,850 euro and 180 points ATP

Quarter finalist – 23,300 euro and 90 points ATP

R16 – 11,340 euro and 45 points ATP

R32 – 6,045 euro and 20 points ATP

R64 – 3,515 euro and zero points

Thank's for link:

Tweet