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Almagro wins third Brazil Open

Greenville, S.C. — For the second year in a row, and the third time overall, Spain’s Nicolas Almagro stood victorious on Center Court in Sunday’s final of the Brazil Open, marking the fourth title at that tournament for a Dunlop Tour Team member in five years. This year’s win came at the expense of Italian Filippo Volandri, in a two hour affair that finished 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in favor of ‘Nico’.

As has been his stock in trade over his career, Almagro ripped penetrating groundstrokes off both wings yesterday. Since he’s switched to the Dunlop Biomimetic 500 Tour he’s also added more pop to his serve; this year he finished with 18 aces in the final, and won 88% of his first serve points. The win gives him 11 ATP World Tour titles, all on clay.

Last year, Almagro took out Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final, and in 2008, he beat the legendary Carlos Moya. “It is always difficult to win two years in a row and this year was just as hard, because it was my third crown. Every title has a great place in my heart and is very difficult to choose one. I take all three and I hope that next year will be four.”

In 2009, fellow Spaniard and Dunlop Tour Team member Tommy Robredo won in Brazil, beating Thomaz Bellucci.

“When Nico is playing with the confidence he showed in the final, there are few people on the planet who can hang with him,” said Kai Nitsche, VP of Racket Sports for Dunlop. “This should give him and Dunlop some good momentum as we head into Indian Wells and Miami next month.”

Posted on February 20, 2012
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