MONTPELLIER, February 11, 2018
Lucas Pouille claims his fifth ATP World Tour title, winning Sunday’s final of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. The No. 2 seed defeated fellow Frenchman and three-time champion Richard Gasquet 7-6, 6-4.
Pouille struck 10 aces and didn’t face a break point, converting one of his own to prevail after one hour and 27 minutes.
A fifth ATP title for Lucas Pouille 🏆@la_pouille beats Gasquet 7-6(2) 6-4 to win in Montpellier.#OSDF18 pic.twitter.com/oBwwPo4eZi
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 11. Februar 2018
“I’m very happy with the win today. Obviously it was a tough match. Richard is an amazing player and one of the best on tour. The first set was very important and taking the tie-break led me to the victory. I’m very happy with the way I played. It was a great week for me in Montpellier, winning the title in the city where I got my first wild card on tour at 18. It’s a great feeling and I’m very happy with this. I hope to come back next year and defend my title,” said Pouille, who extended his head-to-head record over Gasquet to 4-1. He receives 250 ATP Rankings points and $89,435 in prize money and is projected to move up one place to No. 16 on Monday.
Earlier in the day, British siblings Ken and Neal Skupski clinched the doubles title with a 7-6, 6-4 win over Ben Mclachlan of Japan and Frenchman Hugo Nys. The final lasted one hour and 15 minutes.
The British duo earned their second trophy in as many weeks, after prevailing at the ATP Challenger Tour event in nearby Quimper seven days ago.
“This is a dream come true for us. We’ve worked very hard over the years that we have played together. To finally win an ATP World Tour title together, we are extremely happy for us, but also for the family. It is a privilege to play with my brother and it is a great opportunity to progress more. We are super excited,” Ken Skupski told.
“It is my first title, and Ken’s fourth, so it is nice to get it as a pair. Our parents will be extremely happy with us. We made one final before, we had match points in Moscow, so it is nice to get that monkey off the back and hopefully we can get a few more this year,” Neal added.
