Spain’s Feliciano Lopez finished runner-up in last week’s Queen’s Club tournament and he’s not about to finish with the same result at this week’s Aegon International in Eastbourne where he’s the defending champion.
Lopez completed a successful title defense on Saturday after eliminating top seed Richard Gasquet of France 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 in a match that lasted two hours and 13 minutes. This is the 32-year old’s fourth career ATP title.
The former top 15 player won $77,315 and 250 ranking points. His compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut won his first career title at the Topshelf Open tournament in Netherlands this week as well.
“He beat me five times before, quite a lot,” Lopez said about his opponent. “I have to be even a little bit more happy, because I knew Richard is going to be so tough to beat today. When a player beats you five times before, you don’t know what’s going (to happen) and how can you manage the situation to beat him for the first time. And I did. It’s a great feeling.”
“The way I play here is completely different from when I play on the other surfaces around the world. That’s really one of the most important things. Then my attitude was great. I was fighting. Even though I lost the second set, I was (fighting) all the time.”
Gasquet, aiming to win this event for the third time in his career, attempted to find the positives in the loss.
“[It’s] always difficult to lose the final,” he said. “It’s always very disappointing, but I try my best. I think on two break points I could do a little bit better, maybe return faster than I did. But it’s tennis. I try to fight the best I could.
“Of course it’s a tough half an hour after I lose, but of course I will take positives and I try my best next week again.”
