Juan Martin del Potro proved too strong for Richard. The Argentine won the Estoril final 6-4 6-2.
Richard lost his first game when del Potro set the tone of the match, powerful groundies painting the lines and huge serving. Richard was under pressure in many of his serivce games, but kept the damage to one break to lose the set 4-6. The second set started exactly the same way, broken at the beginning. But while Richard had well been able to compete with del Potro in the first set (12 winners, 17 UEs), the second set was a rather one-sided affair, despite a gorgeous backhand smah in the third game. Del Potro won 6-4 6-2.
It is esay to come to the conclusion that the marathon the day before had taken too much out of Richard, who - despite of the defeat- displayed much better tennis than in the semis. Overall, a final in the first tournamanet after a 6 weeks lay-off is an encouraging result. Richard's next tournament is the blue clay of Madrid where he will face Bellucci in the first round.
