Gasquet Wins Maiden Title at ATP Nottingham

It was the first title in his third career final for Gasquet, who previously came up short in finals at '05 Hamburg and '04 Metz.

"Its a very special moment for me, especially to win on my birthday," Gasquet said. "It's very satisfying to know that I can play as well on grass as on clay."

Gasquet joins Cedric Pioline (1999) and Sebastien Grosjean (2000), who he replaces next week as the No. 1-ranked Frenchman on tour, as the only Frenchmen to have won titles in Nottingham.

Following the final the likable giant Mirnyi orchestrated a rendition of "Happy Birthday" for Gasquet in his on-court speech.

"Getting to the finals is a positive and getting a lot of grasscourt matches is always great," said "The Beast" Mirnyi. "At the same time I'm happy for our new upcoming player Richard Gasquet to come and win this title on his birthday. I'll analyze and move on, next week is another week and I'll look to improve."

In the doubles final No. 2 seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram defeated top seeds Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 for their second title of 2005.