Second seed Andreas Seppi dismissed first-time ATP World Tour finalist Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-2 at the Serbia Open 2012 Sunday to win his first title of the year in Belgrade.
“I think my play was really solid this week,” Seppi assessed. “Maybe yesterday, the first set was under my expectations, but the rest was very good, so I can be very happy about this victory.”
The Italian won 67 per cent of his second serve return points to break Paire five times, wrapping up the final victory in 71 minutes.
“I was stressed and tired today,” Paire said. “It’s disappointing that I couldn’t win any easy games with my serve after leading 3-1 in the first set. My first serve percentage was very low and that’s why he was able to attack all the time.
“I only had hard matches against tough players this week. I’m not used to playing so many hard matches against great players in a row. It was a great week for me but of course I’m disappointed that I couldn’t do better in my first final. I have my birthday in two days and this would have been the perfect gift.”
Seppi improved to a 2-1 record in title matches, adding to his triumph at the AEGON International in Eastbourne (d. Tipsarevic) last year. He is 7-2 on clay this season.
“My goal is to be back into the Top 30. My highest ranking is 27,” said Seppi. “At the beginning of the year, I said I wanted to try and get back there. I’m a little closer now. I’ll just try to do it match by match and see if I can manage it by the end of the year.”
The 96th-ranked Paire was bidding to become the lowest-ranked player to lift an ATP World Tour trophy in 2012, as well as the first player this season to capture his maiden tour-level title. The Frenchman had defeated three seeded players en route to the final.
“I’m looking forward to the coming weeks,” said Paire. “I have no points to defend in the next three months and that makes it very interesting. I saw this week that I can beat great players and I hope that I can continue like this.”
