World number seven Fernando Gonzalez was in a class of his own
at the China Open final as he rallied past third seed Tommy Robredo
6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the China Tennis Center on Sunday.
The Chilean, who enjoyed his revival of fortunes here in Beijing
after the disappointing summer season, earned the convincing
victory in one hour and 45 minutes.
Fernando
Gonzalez
Gonzalez and Robredo are both battling for two of the remaining
five spots in the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. The win has moved
Gonzalez four places up to 7th in the ATP Race while Robredo
settled for a 11th finish thus far.
"It is one of the best matches in the last few months and I am
happy to win the match. The first set is quick and I play well, but
in the second set I started to miss my shots. That's the reason why
it was close," said Gonzalez.
"The win also give me confidence, and I will come back to defend
the title next year. It also gives me confidence to play in the
Olympics."
The second seed looked totally in control, raising his game to
break the Spaniard in his opening service game to take a 3-0 early
lead, while the error-prone Robredo sort of crumbled under the
consistency of his opponent's metronomic groundstrokes.
After holding serve in the fourth game, Robredo could not regain
his momentum, allowing his opponent to take three straight
games.
Tommy Robredo
The Spaniard resumed his composure in the second set and went a
break up at 3-1 after taking Gonzalez's serve in the fourth game,
but successive unforced errors from him gave Gonzalez a string of
break points in the seventh game which the Chilean claimed by
drilling a forehand down the line at the end of a long rally.
However, the Australian Open finalist kept missing what is
usually his most effective shot, a powerful forehand, in the next
service game on the way to surrender at 6-3.
The final set became much tighter at the beginning, with a
rampant Gonzalez taking Robredo's second serve after six deuces to
storm to a 3-1 lead.
The break seemed to knock Robredo's spirits, losing the next
three games running out of gas.
"The fourth game in the final set was the most important game in
the match, and since that my opponent started to gain confidence
and hit much harder," said Robredo.
"I played not so good at the first set, and I am trying to find
the way; the second set was becoming pretty much close," he
added.
In the men's doubles, Rik De Voest from South Africa and Ashley
Fisher of Australia beat Chris Haggard of South Africa and Lu
Yen-Hsun of Chinese Taipei 6-7(3), 6-0, 10-6.
(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2007)
