Estoril Open 2005 News and Events

Gaston Gaudio
© João Lagos Sports

Second seed and reigning Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio captured his third title of the year with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 victory over birthday boy Tommy Robredo in the final of the Estoril Open.

Gaudio's victory in 1 hour, 48 minutes means he becomes the third Argentine in four years to be crowned champion at the Estadio Nacional, following David Nalbandian's win in 2002 and Juan Ignacio Chela's 12 months ago.

The 26-year-old Gaudio, who has won titles this year in Vina del Mar and Buenos Aires, now moves up to seventh position in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race, having picked up 40 points for his victory. Gaudio is now 20-3 on clay this year - second on the ATP circuit behind Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal's 23-1 - and is 25-7 overall.

Since winning his first Grand Slam title in Paris last year, Gaudio has reached finals in seven of his past 10 clay court tournaments, going 39-6 on the surface during that period.

The Argentine, who had won just one singles match in Estoril prior to this year, saved a match point against Jan Hernych in the first round, before overcoming Michael Tabara, No. 8 seed Feliciano Lopez and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez en route to the final.

Robredo, the No. 4 seed who received a wild card into the tournament, was celebrating his 23rd birthday on the day of the final. He was attempting to become the ninth different Spaniard to win the Estoril Open in the last 15 years, and went into the championship match having defeated Gaudio in two of their three previous meetings including their epic five-set marathon in the Barcelona final in 2004.

Robredo won the first game of the match but lost the next six as Gaudio raced through the first set in just 35 minutes. The Spaniard hit back immediately in the second, breaking in the opening game and then again to lead 5-2 as he took the match into a decider.

In the final set, Gaudio let a 40-0 lead slip in the first game but eventually held and then broke Robredo to love in the following game. With renewed confidence, Gaudio took control and lost just 13 points in the final set, sealing victory on his second match point as Robredo failed to control a deep forehand from the Argentine.

It was Robredo's second loss in a final this week, having reached the doubles final with Chela on Saturday before losing to Frantisek Cermak and Leos Friedl.

In the semifinals, he defeated fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya for the first time when the top seeded Moya retired in the second set with a right shoulder injury. Robredo was leading 6-3, 3-0 when Moya stopped.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Gaudio: "Obviously I'm very happy about winning this title. It gives me a lot of confidence especially coming so close to Roland Garros.

"I definitely think that winning Roland Garros gave me extra experience and confidence in the important moments and today I was able to use that to close out the match.

"I tried to step into the court more today and be more aggressive, because it occurred to me the other day that I was just standing at the back, doing a lot of running and it was doing anything. In the second set today, Robredo was the one hitting hard and making me run, so in the third set, I took the opportunity to be more aggressive and go for my shots, go for the lines, and that's what made the difference."

Robredo: "Although I lost today I'm really happy with my week. I came to Estoril to play a lot of matches and I reached finals in singles and doubles, so I couldn't ask for anything more.

"Today the key to the match was early in the third set. Gaudio was up 40-0 in the first game and I came back to deuce but lost it and then lost my serve to love in the next game. I was playing really well at that stage, having just won the second set, and if I had broke him in that first game, it could have been different."