Bagdhatis Falls to Simon in Marseille Title Match

Simon, who won the title without dropping a set, is the second Frenchman in a row to win the crown, following Arnaud Clement’s victory over Mario Ancic in last year’s final.

Baghdatis broke Simon when he served for the match at 5-3. The Cypriot started the tie-break with a mini-break, but then made a number of mistakes, pressured by Simon's aggressive shotmaking.

The 22-year-old Simon is the first Frenchman to reach an ATP final this season. Simon’s previous ATP final appearance came in April 2006 when he reached the championship match in Valencia (on clay). He lost to Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 6-3.

Baghdatis, who saw his career-best nine-match winning streak broken, is still an impressive 14-4 on the season. His 14 match wins is an ATP-best this year. He won his second career ATP title in his last tournament in Zagreb (d. Ljubicic) on Feb. 4. The 21-year-old Cypriot appeared in his fifth career ATP final (2-3).
 

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Simon: "This is the most beautiful day of my tennis career so far. It's great to win in France, with my family and a lot of friends in the stands. Today I wanted to play every point since I knew that Marcos was a bit tired. It's unbelievable to win my first title without even losing a set. The crowd helped me a lot, I don't know how the match would have ended if we played somewhere else."

Baghdatis: "Gilles played a great match today. He was just the better player. I have been tired for a few days now and I was missing that important kick during today's match. It has been a great week for me anyway, the Marseille crowd was supporting me a lot and I had fun on the court."  (ATP)