Verdasco Wins Houston For First Title In Four Years by Ricky Dimon

Written by: Staff on 13th April 2014

BNP Paribas 2013 Masters Tennis Tournament

Verdasco Wins Houston For First Title In Four Years by Ricky Dimon

epa03929049 Fernando Verdasco of Spain returns the ball to Richard Gasquet of France during their second round match at the BNP Paribas 2013 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 29 October 2013. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

Fernando Verdasco won an all-Spanish final 6-3, 7-6(4) over Nicolas Almagro at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship on Sunday afternoon. Verdasco needed one hour and 52 minutes to capture his first singles title since the clay-court event in Barcelona back in 2010.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve won a singles title,” he assured. “It’s a very important day for me to win a tournament after a few years, and after the injury in my knee the last couple years, not feeling so well and not being able to play a few matches in a row feeling well. I’m so happy for everything in general.”

Verdasco has to be especially pleased with the way he battled in set two. The world No. 26 (up three spots from his raking prior to Houston) trailed by a break and even after getting back on serve he had to save five set points at 4-5. Verdasco managed to force a tiebreaker and from there he had no trouble maintaining momentum.

“In tough matches in clay you are not always 100 percent every point physically, and you just need to try to be tough mentally,” Verdasco explained. “I think the key was my mentality during the week. I kept going every point no matter how tired or how good I was feeling.”

“He played a really good match today and he’s the winner,” Almagro said of his opponent. “It was a battle today, and he was really concentrated on his serve. I had many chances and I didn’t [take them], and that’s the key of the match.”

Almagro also finished runner-up last year in Houston, to John Isner. He has lost his last four finals but still owns a 12-9 record in ATP title matches. Verdasco ended a streak of six straight final losses by securing his sixth career title. Both men now have to make a quick turnaround and suit up for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where they are in the same eighth of the draw. Verdasco opens with Marin Cilic while Almagro is going up against qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Editors Note : This Sunday all players in the finals were Spanish ! And none were named Rafael. He was busy playing poker.

And looking ahead to Monaco. How sad. Not one American in the singles qualies or singles main draw. In Doubles there are the Bryan brothers and “Booty. “That’s it.

Topics: Fernando Verdasco, Houston, Nicolas Almagro, Ricky Dimon, Tennis, Tennis News, U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship

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10sBalls_com says:

April 13, 2014 at 10:16 pm

Verdasco Wins Houston For First Title In Four Years by Ricky Dimon – http://t.co/WC3AupDO27 @FerVerdasco @RD_Tennistalk #houston #tennis
RD_Tennistalk says:

April 13, 2014 at 10:19 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: Verdasco Wins Houston For First Title In Four Years by Ricky Dimon – http://t.co/WC3AupDO27 @FerVerdasco @RD_Tennistalk #…
SkippingGirl1 says:

April 14, 2014 at 2:24 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Verdasco Wins Houston For First Title In Four Years by Ricky Dimon – http://t.co/WC3AupDO27 @FerVerdasco @RD_Tennistalk #…