Finals Day – the Red Letter Days Open
Self proclaimed 'Federer of Nottingham' makes it
a historic double in Nottingham
It was two in a row for Richard Gasquet in the singles final
of the Red Letter Days Open today as world number 66 Frenchman
achieved his dream and made tournament history by capturing
the Red Letter days Open title for the second consecutive
time. "Maybe I am the Federer of Nottingham" he
laughed at his post match press conference after defeating
Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden), the world number 72 and twice (1998
and 2002) singles champion at Nottingham, 6-4 6-3.
Watched by a near capacity centre court gallery of over
3,000 spectators, Jonas Bjorkman and Richard Gasquet battled
for over one hour 15 minutes in balmy conditions for the coveted
ATP title. With Bjorkman serving, it was the Swede who commanded
his service game, taking the first point with a powerful cross
court forehand that defied the reach of Gasquet. The set continued
in a flurry of baseline rallies. It was clear centre court
was to experience an epic battle as the Frenchman tried to
assert his authority over a Swede with 15 years of experience
on the ATP tour.
After 14 minutes of play, Gasquet was on the point of breaking
his opponent's serve. However, 34 year-old Bjorkman held his
nerve to lead 2-1 in the first set. Gasquet immediately fought
back, taking his service game 40-15. If the younger legs of
Gasquet were to be an advantage, Bjorkman was yet to show
any sign of fatigue and he continued to blast forehand shots
down the line. At 3-2 to the Swede, the young Frenchman had
no doubt that their first meeting in ATP competition was to
be a battle of minds as after 25 minutes he convincingly drew
back to 3-3 in the first set. As Gasquet fired backhand and
forehand rockets from the baseline, Bjorkman won several points
with a change of pace and deft drop shots over the net.
After 35 minutes, Bjorkman had the opportunity to break Gasquet
for the first time in the match. However, he failed to capitalise
and the Frenchman brought the match back to 4-4. Still, the
6ft tall Swede, who has banked over $12m in career prize money
to date, was already demonstrating a game plan to play aggressive,
attacking tennis. With the match at 4-4 when Gasquet broke
Bjorkman's serve with a stunning cross court return to lead
5-4 at a crucial point in the match. Five minutes later Gasquet
took the first set 6-4.
After 55 minutes and the score at 2-2 in the second set,
the young Frenchman went on to break Bjorkman's serve and
lead first 3-2 and quickly 4-2 on serve. At just 20 years-old,
Gasquet was just two games from the chance to record history
at the Red Letter Days Open. Yet Bjorkman wasn't about to
give up his own title hopes and brought the game back to 3-4
in the second set.
With the Frenchman on serve, it was Bjorkman who brought
the game to deuce. If the reigning champion was feeling nerves
with the title in sight he didn't take long to secure the
game and lead 5-3 in the second set.
With Bjorkman serving to stay in the match, his double faults
saw him 15-30 down but he rallied to bring the score to 30-30.
However, Gasquet wasn't to be denied and a powerful forehand
saw the first match point. Bjorkman brought it back to deuce
but then Gasquet took advantage and moments later he had achieved
history on the Nottingham grass clinching this second title
6-4, 6-3.
After the match Gasquet commented: "It's incredible
to have won the title twice. I don't know why but I have played
two great tournaments in Nottingham, it's fantastic and I
want to come back and win it again. Maybe I am the Federer
of Nottingham. I am really happy to have won here. It was
really, really important for me to win this match because
I know I could lose against Roger (at Wimbledon). He (Roger)
could be nervous in the first round. In Halle I played well
and I know how I need to play against him. I will play him
with no pressure. Who knows, if I play like I did here today
but it's really hard."
He added: "It's never good to play Roger, it's difficult
but I'll play a good match against him. I know what to do.
You have to play on his backhand sometimes because he has
a good serve and a wonderful forehand so I have to use my
backhand against his backhand. I have had a lot (almost 5
months) of injuries since I won here last year. Now, I am
sure I can be in the top 15 in the world."
Runner up Jonas Bjorkman said after the match: "Richard
has a good game. He mixes his serves and has a great forehand
which is difficult to read. I think this will be a nice step
for him. It was hard out there because I haven't played him
before – I didn't get hold of his serve as I had hoped.
I never got into the situation where I could dictate. Maybe
if I could of got hold of it in the first set at 4-3 it would
have been a different match but after he got in control of
the match it was very difficult. On grass you can't afford
to make mistakes – he's definitely a tough player. I
think we already know he has a big future."
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