Written by Giovanni Vianello
ATP Sydney, final: In a quite one-sided match, Gilles Muller wins the final against Daniel Evans and gains his first tournament title. Strolling to a 7-6(5), 6-2, win.
In a match that has been thrilling just for a set, Giller Muller wins against Daniel Evans in straight sets and lifts his first trophy on the Tour.
In the first set it’s the Luxembourg player who performs better. Thanks to his very good serve, he wins his service games easily, combining serve and volley and serve and forehand tactics. Evans too plays well, but struggles a little more in holding his service games. Muller is the first to reach set-point, once on 5-4 and once on 6-5, but fails to convert them (the British player was serving).
The set ends in a tie-break, which sees many losses of serve by both players and eventually the Luxembourg player wins 7-5, with a serve and volley in the last point.
In the second set Muller starts to be more aggressive in the return games, gaining two breaks and the advantage as a result he closed the second set 6-2. It must be said, though, that the breaks were also due to a lack of consistency by Evans, who started to make many unforced errors.
Both players often served onto the opponent’s backhand, the weakest shot of both players. Muller, as usual, played a very offensive match, often serve&volleying on the first serve and attacking the net as much as possible. Evans tried to play more of a baseline rallies match, but today Muller was able to make his aggressive tactics prevail.
“I thank the crowd and my team for the support, I hoped today you were going to lose the final today, but in the end you won, so congratulation” Evans said in the post-match interview
Muller said: “I congratulate myself with you, Daniel, for your final, and I hope you’ll soon win a title. I’d like to thank my coach” Muller then started crying and thanked his wife and his children.
GIlles Muller finally wins a tournament at his sixth attempt.
