That was a great fun. Benetteau was determined to win his first career title, but he just missed it thanks to a fighting Monaco.
The Match
The Frenchman had a good start to find himself leading 2-0 in the opening set (Monaco squandered 4 break points in the second game). Then Pico bounced back to lead 5-3 and miss 2 sets points. Time for an epic 12th game (10 deuces!) with Monaco eventually winning the opener 7-5.
Time to meltdown for Benneteau? No way! The Frenchamn fought back to bring the match to the third set. At that point Monaco got the decisive break in the 6th game to lead 4-2 and finally win the decider 6-3.
From Monaco
This was the 7th career title for Monaco (the 4th in 2012) to enter the top10 in the ATP Rankings.
“I celebrated with my team in the locker room and tonight I’ll have Malaysian food with my team,” said Monaco. “It has been nice to be in this city and win the trophy. It feels very good. When I win a title, I think of my family and my team, as they believe in me, they have supported me and we have worked hard to win tournaments.
“I think we played a great match, with a lot of ups and downs. I got a little nervous when I had chances, but I never gave up, particularly in the 12th game of the first set. He surprised me a little bit with his comeback in the second set. In the final set, I knew I had to be more aggressive and I am happy the way I finished the match.”
From Benneteau
“I was very focused on this game, because I wanted to win this final,” said Benneteau. “The fans were great; there was a lot of French in the crowd. It was a nice atmosphere and the game was a good level.”
The Frenchman has now a 0-7 record in the ATP finals.
