By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: AFP

(April 29, 2012)—If this year’s French Open were played in Bucharest, Gilles Simon probably wouldn’t mind.

“It’s a very important tournament for me,” said Simon of the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy earlier this week in an interview with ATPworldtour.com. “It was my second title. It was also the first time I was able to defend a title.”

Now he’s a three-time champion.

The top-seeded Frenchman continued his run of invincibility in Romania, winning his third Bucharest title today (in four career appearances) against unseeded Italian Fabio Fognini, 6-4, 6-3. The world No. 12 has now won all four of his matches against Fognini, losing only one set in the nine they have played.

Simon now owns a 10-2 record in career finals, 5-1 on clay.

Even more impressive, he’s 15-1 in Bucharest, and he’s won an ATP title for the sixth consecutive year. 

Simon, who broke serve in 20 of 42 return games on the week, survived a wild first set which featured five breaks of serve, to take the early lead.

In the second, Simon saved five break points in his first two service games, and went on to gain a 3-2 advantage when Fognini netted a backhand.

From there, Simon did not face another break point. He broke Fognini again to seal the match when the Italian double faulted on Simon’s second match point.

“It was very difficult,” said Simon of the one hour, fifty-minute encounter. “Fabio played well and I had to run a lot today.”

Afterwards, it was a familiar scene for Simon: Autographing tennis balls for fans while “We Are the Champions” played on the tournament sound system.

Fognini, who reached his first career final, was bidding to become the ATP’s only maiden title winner this season. “I had my chances,” said Fognini, “but he has played more finals than me and is more experienced.”