Open Sud de France 2012: Tomas Berdych Defeats Gael Monfils For Title

In the final day of the Open Sud de France tennis tournament, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Tomas Berdych, defeated its No. 3 seed, Frenchman Gael Monfils, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to take home the hardware. It was the seventh career tournament win for Berdych, who hails from the Czech Republic. He secured the victory via a double fault from Monfils to send Berdych up a break, 5-3, in the final set.

Berdych has slowly but surely moved his way up into the upper echelon of players in the world. He’s not in the Djokovic-Nadal-Federer-Murray tier, but he’s right in the mix with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Ferrer, as evidence by his ranking, currently No. 7 in the world. Monfils, who’s at No. 13 in the world rankings, is a quality opponent, and likely could have advanced farther in the Australian Open had his back not completely locked up. Add his talent level to the fact that this was essentially a home game for him, this is a great win for Berdych as he looks to move up in the tennis world.

Four seeded players are onto the semifinals of the Open Sud de France. Tomas Berdych, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon are the four remaining players in Montpeiller, France.

No. 2 seeded Gilles Simon had the match of the day against wildcard Guillaume Ruffin. The two Frenchman pushed their match to two tiebreakers and three sets that was completed in two hours and 52 minutes. Simon won the match 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-2. Each player won more than 70 percent of first service points. Ruffin actually saved more break points than Simon (67 percent to 62 percent), but the wildcard served up more double faults then aces (11 to 10).

Top seeded Tomas Berdych and No. 3 seed Gael Monfils had simple two-set matches to find their way into the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France.

Berdych defeated qualifier Florent Serra of France, 6-0, 6-2. Berdych served up nine aces and converted on 100 percent of his break point opportunities. The 14-game match took 55 minutes to complete.

Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet held onto their seeds and their sets in the Open Sud de France. Gilles, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, and Gasquet, the tournament’s No. 4 seed, both won in straight sets. Gilles served up nine aces in his 6-3, 6-2 win against Italy’s Flavio Cipolla. Gilles saved four break points.

In Gasquet’s match, he broke his opponent, Nikolay Davydenko, three times. Gasquet won the match 6-3, 6-4.

The Open Sud de France’s No. 7 and No. 8 tournament seeds both advanced out of their first round matches.

No. 7 seeded Phillip Kohlschreiber defeated Olivier Rochus in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. The match took one hour and 24 minutes. Kohlschreiber knocked 11 aces and won 84 percent of his first service points. The 28-year-old German will face Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who defeated his qualifier opponent in straight sets, in the second round.

German sixth-seed Florian Mayer knocked off Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, Monday afternoon in the only match of the Open Sud de France’s first day that featured a seeded player. The tournament, which is taking place in Montpellier for only the second time in its history — it was formerly played in Lyon, a bigger city a few hundred miles to the north — gets in full swing on Tuesday, when Feliciano Lopez, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Nicholas Mahut are in action.

Mayer, 28, is trying to build on the momentum he started last year after winning his first career tournament in Bucharest, Romania in September. He’ll have stiff competition in the later rounds as the other participants, Tomas Berdych, Frenchmen Gilles Simon and Gaël Monfils and Lopez all have been playing great tennis of late, when healthy. It remains to be seen how Monfils recovers from the back injury that led to his elimination in the Australian Open.

Gael Monfils won the Open Sud de France in 2010. Two years later, and after a recent third-round exit from the Australian Open, Monfils is the French tournament’s No. 3 seed.

The tournament starts on Monday and ends Sunday, Feb. 2. The indoor hard court tournament is played in Montpellier, France.