MARRAKECH, April 15, 2019

Benoit Paire is the new champion of the Grand Prix Hassan II, the lone ATP Tour event held on African soil. The 29-year-old Frenchman defeated last year’s Marrakech winner Pablo Andújar from Spain 6-2, 6-3 in Sunday’s singles final.

Paire sent down eight aces, saved the only break point he faced and capitalized on three of his four own chances to secure victory in one hour and five minutes.

🏆 Bastad 2015
🏆 Marrakech 2019@benoitpaire wins his second ATP title after beating the defending champion Pablo Andujar 6-2 6-3 in Morocco pic.twitter.com/NvkmG4FExV

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 14. April 2019

By lifting his second ATP Tour trophy, his first title since 2015, Paire collects $87,745 in prize money as well as 250 ATP-Ranking points. He improves to 12-5 in Morocco. Paire beat Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, Spaniard Jaume Munar as well his compatriots Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to the final.

“This is the second title of my career so I’m extremely happy tonight,” Paire was quoted on the ATP Tour website. “The first round (against Bedene) and the semi-final against Jo were very difficult. I’m happy that I was able to get through. This is very important for my confidence and the match against Jo helped me a lot in that aspect. I hope that I can keep it up for the rest of the season. My goal is to move up in the ATP Rankings and continue playing well.”

Singles – Final
B. Paire (FRA) d P. Andujar (ESP) 62 63

Doubles – Final
J. Melzer (AUT) / F. Skugor (CRO) d M. Middelkoop (NED) / F. Nielsen (DEN) 64 76(6)