Simon downs Moya for Bucharest title

No. 1 seed Gilles Simon won his third ATP career title of the year on Sunday, defeating Carlos Moya in the BCR Open Romania final, 6-3, 6-4. The win marked his second straight win at Bucharest, as the Frenchman now holds to an 11-1 record in three years of playing at the clay court event.

Simon was ranked just 42nd last year when he entered the event, and a year later he is up to No. 17 in the world after two straight titles there, although he is No. 12 in the ATP 2008 Race. Simon’s 2007 campaign ended with a career-best 35 wins, but his current record of 40-20 has by far shattered his previous best year, which also was coupled with 26 losses.

The 23-year-old’s three ATP titles have all come this year, while this was the second on clay despite just a 12-6 clay court record here in 2008. After the match, the victorious Simon had this to say:

“This was definitely my best match of the week," he said. "I was playing very well. These days I feel like my opponents have to play really well to beat me. I knew that it was important to return well against him. I felt good on court and I'm happy about the result. It's nice to defend the title here in Bucharest.”

Simon’s opponent, Moya, was out trying to extend his streak of consecutive years winning at least one ATP title each year to nine. For the second time this season, however, the Spaniard was denied in an ATP final and has a limited number of chances left to be victorious for a ninth year in a row.