By Xinhua
Beijing : World number seven Fernando Gonzalez was in a class of his own in the China Open tennis final as he rallied past third seed Tommy Robredo 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 here Sunday.
The Chilean, enjoying a revival of fortunes here after a disappointing summer, earned the convincing victory in an hour and 45 minutes.
The second seed looked totally in control, raising his game to break the Spaniard in his opening service game to take a 3-0 early lead, while the error-prone Robredo sort of crumbled under the consistency of his opponent’s ground strokes.
After holding serve in the fourth game, Robredo could not regain his momentum, allowing his opponent to take three straight games.
The Spaniard resumed his composure in the second set and went a break up at 3-1 after taking Gonzalez’s serve in the fourth game, but successive unforced errors from him gave Gonzalez a string of break points in the seventh game which the Chilean claimed by drilling a forehand down the line at the end of a long rally.
However, the Australian Open finalist kept missing what is usually his most effective shot, a powerful forehand, in the next service game on the way to a 6-3 surrender.
The final set became much tighter at the beginning, with a rampant Gonzalez taking Robredo’s second serve after six deuces to storm to a 3-1 lead.
The break seemed to knock Robredo’s spirits, losing the next three games running out of gas.