By Alberto Amalfi | Sunday, July 28, 2019
Albert Ramos-Vinolas broke serve four times sweeping Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, 6-3, 6-2, to snare his second career title in Gstaad.
Photo credit: Keystone-SDA/Swiss Open Gstaad Facebook
Albert Ramos-Vinolas nearly bottomed out in June.
The Spanish left-hander is streaking through July.
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Ramos-Vinolas broke serve four times sweeping Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, 6-3, 6-2, to snare his second career title in Gstaad.
“I feel great. After a long time waiting for this moment again, I'm really happy," Ramos-Vinolas said. "I think I did a great match today, also a great tournament. So I think my game was perfect... and I will never forget Gstaad.”
It was Ramos-Vinolas' eighth win in his last nine matches as he continues a run of good form to spike his ranking.
On June 10th, the Spaniard dropped to No. 101, his lowest ranking since 2014. The world No. 85 will rise with the 250 ranking points for his Gstaad title run.
Ramos-Vinolas did not drop a set in five tournament wins this week.
In a match of left-handers, Ramos-Vinolas mastered soggy conditions and a tricky opponent to win his first since the 2016 Bastad.
"It was not easy because everybody said it was raining all day," Ramos-Vinolas said afterward. "I said to my coach and my wife I was thinking I have to be ready because if it stops, you uncover the court and in 30 minutes you are on court."
The 31-year-old Spaniard said he tried keeping an energized calm during the rain delay. That approach worked.
After an exchange of opening breaks, Ramos-Vinolas converted his third break point for a 4-2 lead en route to the opening set.
Continously stepping around his backhand to fire his forehand with vigor, Ramos-Vinolas charged out to a 4-0 second-set lead and never looked back wrapping up a one hour, 21-minute victory.
"All the time I was thinking I have to be ready and I was ready," Ramos-Vinolas said. "It’s not easy because you don’t know if you’re going to play or not. So you have to be calm, but at the same time you have to be excited." :
Despite the defeat, the 28-year-old Stebe enjoyed a career-best run. Wrist surgery had sidelined Stebe, whose ranking fell to No. 455.
Stebe surprised two seeds en route to his first ATP final.