Just one week after Spain claimed the World Cup and two weeks after Rafael Nadal won Wimbledon, the winning ways of Spain have continued as Nicolas Almagro and Albert Montanes both claimed a title overnight.
Nico fought off Robin Soderling to secure his sixth career title in Bastard where Soderling was defending champion. It was the fourth consecutive match in which the world number five was pushed to five sets, having not played his best tennis since returning to the clay courts. Almagro, on the other hand, had taken to the clay like a fish to water (or really like a Spaniard to clay) and won the match, and the tournament 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
“It’s a great feeling to win here. It’s always amazing to win a final and I’m very happy with the week. I’m going to enjoy this moment and then prepare for next week in Hamburg. I didn’t play very well in the 2007 final here, but today I fought very hard and I’m really happy with the physical and mental sides to my game. It was a big match, a big fight and we were both battling like gladiators. Robin is a great player and I’m sure he will have many more chances to win this tournament in the future.”
In Stuttgart, also on clay, another Spaniard was also claiming a title. Albert Montanes defeated Gael Monfils in the final after Monfils was forced to retire with an ankle injury. Montanes was leading 6-2, 1-2 when Monfils walked to the net. Not only did Montanes claim the 250 points available and €72,150 in prize money, but he also drove away in a white Mercedes-Benz E 350 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY convertible.
Despite the disappointing end to the final Albert was happy. “I played very well. In the first set I played good in the rallies and my confidence was good. I am very happy with the win today. It is unbelievable for me. All week I played unbelievably. I’m very happy about this week. The Mercedes is very nice.”
The frequently injured Monfils talked about his injury after the match. “I twisted my ankle on the court and it was impossible to finish the match. The week was good. I played pretty good tennis, a lot of confidence came back. To reach a final again was pretty exciting. I had a bad experience but hopefully it will be better soon and I can get back to my best level and try to reach some other finals… My ankle just got worse and worse. I thought I could come back, but I wasn’t 100% and Albert would have figured out he needed to just move me around for the win.”
As a result of the wins Almagro moved up two places in the rankings to number 18 and Montanes moved up six places to number 24 – a career high for Albert. Nico’s highest ever ranking was 11.
Monfils said on Twitter moments ago that he will miss Hamburg;
“Hey twitter.my ankle is still painful so i m not gonna play hambourg.i m very sad i was in a good shape.”
