BUDAPEST, April 30, 2017
Lucas Pouille clinched his second ATP World title, winning Sunday’s final of the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open in Budapest. The top seed from France defeated Aljaz Bedene of Great Britain 6-3, 6-1.
Pouille sent down five aces, winning 85 per cent of his first service points to improve 2-0 in the pair’s head-to-head records. The encounter lasted 64 minutes.
Pouille continued his fine form on clay this season, having also reached the semi-finals last week at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
“I feel very happy with the way I started the clay season. To win here gives me a lot of confidence for the future. It’s been a great week and it was nice to see the French supporters in the crowd… My goal for the next few tournaments is to be at 200 per cent of my capacity, so I will do everything I can to be ready,” Pouille told afterwards. The 23-year-old clinched his maiden trophy last year on home soil in Metz. He takes away €85,945 in prize money as well as 250 ATP ranking points.
Bedene’s win streak has ended at 16 matches, which included two ATP Challenger titles this month in Sophia Antipolis and Barletta, and six wins this week as he raced through the qualifying to the championship match.
“I’m a little disappointed because I had problems with my finger and felt uncomfortable hitting my shots. I wasn’t close to the level I should be at to beat Lucas, but he was playing really well. It was like everything went in for him… If I’m going to lose to anyone, it should be against someone who is a good player and a good person, which Lucas is,” Bedene said.
Baker/Mektic Clinch Doubles Crown
Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic won their second ATP World Tour doubles title as a team, follwing their triumph at the Memphis Open earlier this season. The US-American-Croatian combination defeated Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah from Colombia 7-6, 6-4 in one hour and 26 minutes.
The title was the perfect birthday present for Baker, who turned 32 on Sunday.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present… Turning 32 today, it’s going to be my best year yet. This really validates our Memphis win. We haven’t played that many tournaments and sometimes you can do well early [in a partnership], but winning again shows we’re a really good team,” Baker was happy.
“It was a very good week… Today was our best match. I’m happy to win the title. It’s a great city and I think they did a really good job for a first-time tournament,” Mektic added.
