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David Goffin claims his fifth career title with a three-set win over Roberto Bautista Agut in Montpellier

Published

1 month ago

28/02/2021

Belgium’s David Goffin claimed his fifth title with a 5-7 6-4 6-2 win over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut at the Open Sud France

Goffin fought back from one set down to win the first title since Tokyo in 2017. The Belgian beat Bautista Agut for the fourth consecutive time in six head-to-head matches improving his record in finals to 5 wins to 9 defeats.

For the first time in history the top two seeds met in the Montpellier final.

Goffin fired 13 aces and saved four of the six break points he faced.

Bautista Agut saved a break point in the second game of the opening set to hold his serve. The Spanish player earned his first break at love to open up a 3-1 lead, as Goffin hit his backhand down the line wide. Bautista Agut held his service game at love to race out to a 5-2 lead. Goffin hit his third ace o hold serve at love in the eighth game and forced Bautista Agut to serve out the set. Bautista Agut hit a double fault and missed two running forehands to face a double break point.

Goffin broke back in the ninth game for 4-5 with an inside-in forehand and held his serve with his fourth ace at deuce to draw level to 5-5. Goffin faced two set points at 5-6 with a double fault and a forehand error, as he was serving at 5-6.

Bautista Agut dictated the rallies with his forehand to convert his second set point on Goffin’s serve in the 12th game to win the first set 7-5 after 49 minutes.

Goffin earned an immediate break at love with a backhand winner down the line in the first game of the second set. The Belgian player held serve for 4-2 with an ace. He served out the second set at love with two aces to force the match to the decider.

Goffin drew a pair of forehand errors from Bautista Agut to get an early break in the first game on his third opportunity. The Belgian player saved three break points to hold his serve at deuce for 2-0 with a forehand down the line. The 2017 ATP Finals runner-up earned a double break to build up a 5-2 lead. Goffin converted his first championship point with a backhand down the line after 2 hours and 5 minutes.

“It’s never easy to win tournaments. This is my fifth. Every tournament that I won was very special. I had some opportunities. I had matches where I had zero chance to win in the final, but sometimes you take it sometimes not. You need to continue. You need to improve your game. You need to fight and I am happy it pays off at the end. A final is always different. You have to just go for it. You made already a good week. It’s the last match of the week. So you have to give everything to try to win the trophy. Otherwise it’s tought to win a tournament. I think I did it. I raised my level. I am really happy at the end because it was a tough moment. The last season was tough. I am happy I am back with a level like this. It would have been nice o win this title in front of fans. This win gives me the motivation to return stronger, when the crowd will return. Roberto played really well and I always that he is a very tough opponent. He is one of the biggest fighters and one of the best players especially in the final. I had to play my best best tennis and I think it was the case from the end of the first set”, said Goffin.

Bautista Agut, who did not drop a set en route to the final, was bidding to win his 10th ATP Tour title. He has a 9-8 record in ATP title matches.

“I think he played very good tennis today. I fought, but it was not enough and I am very happ for him to win the title”, said Bautista Agut.

Roger Vasselin and Kontinen win the doubles title

Top seeds Edouard Roger Vasselin from France and Henri Kontinen clinched their second doubles title as a team with a 6-2 7-5 win over Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski after 66 minutes.

Roger Vasselin and Kontinen fended off seven break points they faced to win their second career title after their triumph at the 2019 Stockolm Open.

Kontinen and Roger Vasselin broke twice in the fourth and eighth games to close out the opening set 6-2. Erlich and Vasilevski saved two break points in the eighth game, but Kontinen and Roger Vasselin closed out the match with a break at love in the 12th game.

The French and Finnish doubles team dropped just one set en route to the Montpellier ATP 250 title, when they came back from a set down in their 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 10-8 win over Hubert Hurkacz and Szymon Walkow.

Roger Vasselin becomes the first player to win three doubles title in Montpellier. The French doubles specialist lifted his previous title in the home tournament alongside Nicolas Mahut in 2012 and Ivan Dodig in 2019.

“We are happy the tournament this week. We were better and better. In each match. That is a good point. Now we are looking forward to the rest of the season”, said Roger Vasselin.

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Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori claim the doubles title in Cagliari

Published

18 mins ago

10/04/2021

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An all-Italian doubles team formed by Lorenzo Sonego and Andrea Vavassori claimed the doubles title at the Sardegna Open in Cagliari with a 6-3 6-4 win over Simone Bolelli and Andres Molteni n 75 minutes.

Sonego and Vavassori got the first break in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Bolelli and Molteni broke straight back in the fifth game for 2-3, but Sonego and Vavassori claimed their second break to win the first set 6-3. Both teams traded breaks in the second and third games of the second set. They held their service games in the next five games before Sonego and Vavassori sealed the second set with their decisive break in the ninth game.

Sonego and Vavassori, who both come from Turin, had beaten Marcelo Melo and Jean-Julien Rojer in the Cagliari first round. They have become the first Italian doubles team to clinch an ATP title on Italian soil since Giorgio Galimberti and Daniele Bracciali in February 2005 in Milan.

Sonego will bid to become the first player to win the singles and doubles titles at the same tournament since Feliciano Lopez at the Queen’s in London in 2019.

The last Italian player to score a double title was Matteo Berrettini, who won the singles and the doubles tournament with Daniele Bracciali in Gstaad 2018. For the first time at least three Italian players have contested an ATP Tour doubles title since Casablanca 1998 when Andrea Gaudenzi and Diego Nargiso beat Cristian Brandi and Filippo Messori.

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Pablo Carreno sets up all-Spanish final against Jaume Munar in Marbella

Published

3 hours ago

10/04/2021

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Last year’s US Open semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta battled past his compatriot Albert Ramos Vinolas 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7-5) in an all-Spanish semifinal to secure his spot in the Any Tech 365 Andalucia Open in Marbella.

Carreno Busta has improved his head-to-to-head record against Ramos Vinolas to 3-1.

Carreno Busta raced out to a 5-0 lead with a double break to win a one-sided first set 6-1. Ramos Vinolas won just one point from ten on his second serve.

Ramos Vinolas bounced back by winning the second set 6-3 with just one break in the fourth game. For the 12th time in his last 13 matches, Ramos Vinolas sent them into the third set.

Ramos Vinolas went up a break in the third game and was just two points from victory as he served for the match at 5-4. Carreno Busta broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5 after a double fault and a forehand error from Ramos Vinolas.

Carreno Busta converted his third match point to seal the third set after 2 hours and 11 minutes securing his spot into the eighth final of his career.

“It was so close. I don’t know what happened in the second set. At the beginning of the match, I was very focused on my game and my aggressive. After that, Albert started to push back more I started to lose my level a little bit. I just kept fighting all the time, and I want to thank everyone in the crowd for their support. This is what we missed last year, the crowd. It’s very important to play these close matches with a crowd like that”, said Carreno Busta.

Carreno Busta set up an all-Spanish final against Jaume Munar, who beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (7-4) 6-4. Alcaraz got an early break in the second game of the opening set, but Munar broke straight back and saved a break point to hold serve at deuce for 2-2. Alcaraz earned an early mini-break to take a 2-0 lead, but Munar won seven of the next nine points with two mini-breaks to claim the tie-break 7-4.

Munar converted his fourth break point in the second game after five deuces to take a 2-0 lead. Alcaraz broke back at love in the third game and held serve at deuce to draw level to 2-2. After four consecutive on serve Munar went up a break at love in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Alcaraz broke straight back at love for 4-5. Munar sealed the second set 6-4 with a break in the 10th game.

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Lorenzo Sonego reaches his third career final in Cagliari

Published

7 hours ago

10/04/2021

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Lorenzo Sonego battled past Taylor Fritz 6-4 5-7 6-1 after 2 hours and 39 minutes to advance to the final of the Sardegna Open in Cagliari.

Sonego is one match away from becoming the first Italian player to clinch an ATP Tour clay-court title on home soil. Former world number 25 and current Italian Davis Cup captain Filippo Volandri was the last Italian player to win an ATP Tour on Italian soil, when he beat Nicolas Lapentti in Palermo 2006.

Sonego converted his sixth break point with three powerful forehands in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Fritz broke back in the eighth game with a deep forehand to draw level to 4-4, but Sonego earned an immediate break to love.

Sonego reeled off five consecutive games from 4-4 to build up a 6-4 3-0 lead with a break in the ninth game of the first set at love and two breaks in the first and third games of the second set. Fritz pulled back both times to draw level to 3-3. The US player earned his third break in the 12th game to claim the second set after 64 minutes when Sonego hit a backhand into the net.

Sonego started the third set with an early break in the first game with a drop shot. The Turin-native player went up a double break with three consecutive forehands to take a 3-0 lead. The 2019 Antalya champion raced out to a 5-0 lead with his third break. Fritz pulled one break back in the sixth game for 1-5 but Sonego sealed the third set 6-1 with his fourth break to secure his spot in his third career final and his first title match on clay. Last year he upset Novak Djokovic in the semifinal before finishing runner-up to Andrey Rublev in the final at the Erste Open in Vienna. Yesterday Sonego came back from one set down to beat Yannik Hanfmann 3-6 7-6 6-3 in the quarter finals.

Sonego will take on Laslo Djere, who cruised past Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2 6-0. Djere broke twice in the third and seventh games and got three consecutive breaks in the third set.

Djere dropped just one set against Lorenzo Musetti this week. He becomes the second Italian player after Andreas Seppi to reach finals on all surfaces after winning his first title on grass in Antalya 2019 and reaching the Vienna 2020 final on indoor hard-court last year. Sonego has also qualified for the doubles final alongside Andrea Vavassori against Simone Bolelli and Andres Molteni.