Fernando Verdasco has ended his two-year title drought after defeating France’s Lucas Pouille 6-3, 6-2, in the final of the Bucharest Open.
The final of the Romanian tournament was forced to be postponed by almost 24 hours after rain washed out play on Sunday. The delayed final was also affected by the weather as the rain started to fall towards the end of the match.
In a nervous start to the match, Verdasco had a trio break point chances against Pouille in the Frenchman’s first service but failed to capitalize. He was more fortunate in Pouille’s second service game by breaking the 22-year-old to love to move ahead 3-1. The experience of Verdasco proved critical to the match. The Spaniard was playing in his 20th ATP final compared to Pouille, who was playing in his first. Increasing his consistency as the opening set progressed, the world No.60 clinched the first set after 43 minutes of play.
The second set was much more straightforward for the 32-year-old as he broke Pouille two further times to lead 4-1. The issue for Pouille was his erratic play on the court. The Frenchman’s winners were outdone by some costly errors coming off his racket. Strolling towards the title, Verdasco encountered some late resistance before clinching the match with a blistering forehand winner down the line.
The win in Bucharest has handed Verdasco his first ATP title since the 2014 U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston. He is now the ninth Spanish player to win the title in Romania. The title is his seventh on the ATP Tour.
Despite storming to the title, Verdasco praised the talent of his French rival. Pouille stunned three seeded players (Ivo Karlovic, Paolo Lorenzi and Federico Delbonis) to reach the biggest final in his young career.
“I think he has played great tennis, not only this week, I was watching him in Monte Carlo too,” Verdasco said during the award ceremony.
“He a great player and France must be proud to have him,” the 32-year-old later added.
An emotional Verdasco dedicated the title to two people, his wife and her dad who passed away 18 months ago.
There will be little time to celebrate for Verdasco. He is scheduled to play Pablo Carreño Busta in the first round of the Estoril Open in Portugal within the next couple days.
