Almagro to Face Simon in Hamburg Final

Written by: Global Chick on 24th July 2011

ATP tennis tournament Hamburg Rothenbaum

Almagro to Face Simon in Hamburg Final

Spanish tennis professional Nicolas Almagro in action against Spanish tennis professional Fernando Verdasco during the ATP tournament tennis semi final match at Rothenbaum in Hamburg, Germany, 23 July 2011. EPA/ANGELIKA WARMUTH |

Nicolas Almagro of Spain will face France’s Gilles Simon in the bet-at-home Open German Championships final on Sunday.

The number five seed Gilles Simon took out the number four seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny in three sets 3-6 6-3 6-1 to secure his place in the final. Youzhny had won the previous seven matches against Simon.

Simon has been in 11 ATP Tour finals in his career. The Frenchman is looking to win his ninth trophy this week in Hamburg. His last tournament title was at Sydney’s Medibank International tournament in January where he defeated Victor Troicki in the final.

“It was a very tough match. Mikhail was very good at the beginning, he didn’t miss anything and I had to run a lot. I just tried to fight. I did not have the impression that I was playing too bad when he was leading,” Simon said.

If Nicolas Almagro wins the Sunday final he will be the first Spaniard to take home the trophy since Rafael Nadal in 2008. Almagro is the 12^th different Spaniard to reach the Hamburg final since 1968.

Almagro is now in his fifth ATP Tour clay court final of the year. Nicolas beat fellow Spaniard and number eight seed Fernando Verdasco in 85 minutes winning 6-4 6-1. Almagro has won three tournaments this year including Movistar Open, Copa Claro in Argentina and The Open de Nice Côte d’Azur.

“I’m very happy with my tennis today. It was my best match in Hamburg. I am happy with my tennis and my mentality. I am at a good moment in my career. We will see what happens tomorrow, it will be a big match,” Almagro said.

Number four seeds Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek are in the finals of the doubles after beating Sergiy Stakhovsky and Radek Stepanek 7-5 6-3. Their opponents in the final will be Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya. Marach/Peya had a two sets win over the German team of Andreas Beck and Christopher Kas 7-6 (3) 6-4. The two teams will play a repeat match of the Serbia Open 2011 final where Cermak and Polasek won 7-5 6-2.