CASABLANCA, April 11, 2015
The 28-man-draw has been whittled down to the final four on semi-finals-Saturday at the Grand Prix Hassan II.
Daniel Gimeno-Traver overcame third seed Jiri Vesely winning 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 to book a place in his very first ATP World Tour final. The 29-year-old Spaniard didn’t face a break point and capitalized on two on his own sealing victory in two hours and 28 minutes. Gimeno-Traver played 22 finals on the ATP Challenger Tour before and has already lifted one trophy at this level this season on the clay of Bucaramanga in January.
“It was a difficult match,” said Gimeno-Traver. “Maybe I was a bit too much on defense during the first set, but then I started to play more aggressively, and I felt well during all my service games. I’m very happy to reach my first final here in Casablanca.”
Gimeno-Traver beat Vesely for the second time after Moscow 2014 (photo: GP Hassan II)
Daniel Gimeno Traver (photo: GP Hassan II)
“Step by step with calm and patience” – Gimeno-Traver happy afterwards watching the second semi-final together with his trainer Alberto (source: twitter @dani_gimeno)
Martin Klizan came back from a set and a break down to defeat Bosnian qualifier Damir Dzumhur winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in one hour and 50 minutes. The second seeded leftie from Slovakia reached his third career final having won both of his previous title matches in St. Petersburg 2012 and Munich, 2014.
“Damir played very well today,” said Klizan. “It was a tough match. I think that I was mentally stronger in the third set, and I’m extremely happy to be in the final.”
Martin Klizan and Damir Dzumhur met for the first time on the tour (photo: GP Hassan II)
Klizan and Gimeno-Traver will meet for the third time. The world number 95 from Valencia won the first encounter at the ATP Challenger in San Benedetto and the world number 45 from Bratislava took revenge this year winning in the second round in Quito.
Earlier the day, Rameez Junaid and Adil Shamasdin claimed their first team title winning the doubles final 3-6, 6-2, 10-7 in 64 minutes against Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea.
“We feel good. We get along pretty well and that helps in tight situations. We were able to put it together at the right time and enjoy the win,” Junaid, who took his first ATP doubles title, said. “We are going to play until the end of the year and hopefully get to play the bigger tournaments like this one.
“Every title feels really good. It’s our first win together as a team. I always like coming to Africa to play tournaments, so it’s very special for us to win in Africa. Hopefully we can continue our success,” Shamasdin added.
Happy doubles winners: Rameez Junaid Adil Shamasdin (photo: GP Hassan II)
