Tennis Atlantic

Monaco and Montanes Win First Titles of 2013 in Dusseldorf and Nice

ATP Dusseldorf:

Juan Monaco won his first title of the year in Dusseldorf, toppling the veteran Jarkko Nieminen 6-4 6-3. It was a rewarding result for Monaco, who has recovered from an early year slump and is back playing top 20 level tennis. Earlier in the week he defeated Andre Ghem, Tobias Kamke and surprise semifinalist Guido Pella, who beat seeded players Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki to reach the semis.

The steady Nieminen is now a tremendous 21-13 on the year at the age of 31 and is back in the top 40. He beat Lukas Lacko, Roberto Bautista-Agut and another surprise semifinalist, Igor Sijsling, to reach the final. He also got a quarterfinal round walkover against Tommy Haas who withdrew with a cold. The Dutchman Sijsling upset Phillip Kohlschreiber and rolled over Jan Hajek in succession to make the semis.

Andre Begemann and Martin Emmrich beat Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot for the doubles title.

ATP Nice:

32 year old Albert Montanes won his first title since 2010 and his 6th career ATP singles title with a confident 6-0 7-6 victory over Gael Monfils. Previously, the veteran Spaniard beat Victor Hanescu, Paul Henri-Mathieu and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in 3 sets to reach the final, while a rejuvenated Monfils took out Santiago Giraldo, Fabio Fognini, Robin Haase and Pablo Andujar all without dropping a set.

Raven Klaasen and Johan Brunstrom beat Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the doubles final.

—Steen Kirby