Posted at 6:58 a.m., Sunday, October 28, 2007
Tennis: Grosjean ends five-year title drought
Associated Press
LYON, France — Sebastien Grosjean won the Lyon Grand Prix for his first title in five years, serving 17 aces and beating Marc Gicquel 7-6 (5), 6-4 today in an all-French final.This was Grosjean's fourth career title. His previous one came at St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2002, the year he reached a career-high No. 4 ranking.
"Winning in France, in Lyon, is great," he said. "I've been waiting for five years."
Grosjean won on his fourth match point, a crosscourt passing shot on the run that sent Gicquel the wrong way.
"I had trouble closing out the match," Grosjean said. "He returned very well."
Gicquel beat Grosjean in the quarterfinals last year before losing the final to Richard Gasquet.
"It's hard to lose a second final here," Gicquel said. "But Sebastien deserved it. He served well and he was better than me today."
Grosjean broke Gicquel at the third attempt in the ninth game of the second set to serve for the match.
"He is a great player, a super opponent," Gicquel said. "There was only one break, which shows that it was a very attacking match."
