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Ferrer cruises to easy victory over Gasquet

Vania King of the US, left, returns the ball behind her partner Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan during their women's doubles final match against Sun Tiantian and Yan Zi of China at the Japan Open tennis tournament in Tokyo yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Spain's top seed David Ferrer kept his career-best season rolling yesterday, taking the men's singles at the Japan Open with an easy win over Richard Gasquet of France.

The 25-year-old, who has maintained a career-high world number eight ranking since his semi-final appearance at the US Open, coasted to a 6-1, 6-2 win over the French third seed.

"It's a great feeling. It's my first time to win here in Tokyo on hard courts. It's unbelievable. This is the best moment of my career," he said.

"I played very good, very consistent. Maybe Richard was a little bit tired," he said.

Everything went perfectly for Ferrer, who stormed ahead 4-0 in the first set and 3-0 in the second. He never faced a crisis during the 53-minute match.

Gasquet missed two break points in the fourth game of the first set and struggled to make good on his other break chances.

Gasquet admitted that he was tired after winning last week in Mumbai and playing five more matches in Tokyo, saying: "If you are not great physically, it's difficult to beat him."

David Ferrer holds his trophy after defeating Richard Gasquet in the men's singles final at the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo yesterday. PHOTO: EPA

But the 21-year-old said he still had a good chance at making next month's eight-man season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai. Ferrer is in a good position, currently at number six in the race.

"I will be ninth or 10th next week. I can be in the Masters," Gasquet said.

"But I have to play good in Madrid and Paris. It's really important for me. If I can be in the semi-finals in Madrid, everything will be possible," he said.

Meanwhile, in yesterday's women's doubles final Taiwan's Chuang Chia-jung and Vania King of the US lost to Chinese pair Sun Tiantian and Yan Zi 6-1, 2-6, 6-10.

King and Chuang were opponents in last year's final when the Taiwanese-American teamed up with Jelena Kostanic of Croatia to defeat Chuang and fellow Taiwanese Chan Yung-jan in three sets.

King and Chuang beat crowd favorites Ai Sugiyama and Ayumi Morita 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in the first round on the way to yesterday's final.
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