(February 7, 2016) Richard Gasquet, Victor Estrella Burgos and Roberto Bautista Agut claimed titles on the ATP World Tour on Sunday.
Gasquet defended his Open Sud de France title with a 7-5, 6-4 victory against French countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
“It was great for me to win another title,” said Gasquet of his 13th tournament crown. “I am very proud to win my third title here, because it was a great match against a good friend. He had nothing to lose, so it was great to win.”
Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic defended his title in Quito, making a comeback to defeat Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 at the Ecuador Open. Both of his ATP World Tour tournament victories have come on the clay courts of Quito.
“I can’t describe the feeling when I saw the last ball go out,” Estrella said. “It was an unbelievable moment, to win back-to-back in Quito. Last year I was very nervous. I could barely breathe serving on match point. This year I was much more relaxed closing out the match.
“The conditions were difficult. It was sunny and so windy. It was impossible to return [Bellucci’s] serve in the first set.”
The 34-year-old is now 10-0 in Ecuador.
“It was a difficult day,” Bellucci said. “The wind did not allow me to maintain a good level. I was dominating and I had options to win the match, but I wasted them. In the third set, I lost my rhythm on serve and he raised his level. I’m happy to have reached the final, but sad because I could have won.”
Bautista Agut defeated Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4 in 82 minutes to win the inaugural Sofia Open for his fourth career title.
The Spaniard Bautista Agut won the Auckland event last month.
“It is always special to win a title,” said the 18th ranked player. “I have to be happy about this start to the season, the way I play. I am enjoying to be on the court. I just can’t be happier.
“I used drop shots a lot today because he is a great defender and sometimes he stays very far from the baseline. I needed to find a way to break the rhythm and drop shots gave me a lot of points today. To beat Viktor you have to work a lot. He is a very tough opponent. He runs a lot, he makes you play a lot of balls, he defends really well. We played a lot of rallies today and I like that as a Spanish player.”
“He was playing better – more offensive, more aggressive, took more risks,” Troicki said. “He also didn’t’ miss many balls. I felt like the better I played, the better he played. I had a long match yesterday. I needed to be 100 per cent fit to win. He started the season very well. He played great the last four tournaments. So I congratulate him. He deserved the win.
“It was still a good week for me. I reached the final again in four weeks. It is a great start to the season. I hope to keep it up with the good results. That is the only way to make it to the Top 10 which is my goal. I have to achieve it this year.”
The Latin American clay-court swing will set foot in Buenos Aires with the Argentina Open next week. The top four seeds will be top seed Rafael Nadal, Spanish countryman David Ferrer, France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and American John Isner is No. 4.