Altmaier defeats Galan in final of Sarasota Open, takes home first-place prize of $21,650
SARASOTA — A Daniel was the star of the 2023 Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open.
Just not the Daniel local tennis fans may have thought.
Colombia’s Daniel Galan won the event last year and was attempting to become the first back-to-back winner. He hadn’t dropped a set in his four matches leading up to Sunday’s championship and seemed primed to once again make the Sarasota Open his own.
Daniel Altmaier had other ideas.
Ranked 113th in the world, Altmaier handled the wind and 85-degree heat present at the Nick Bollettieri Court at the Payne Park Tennis Center to post a 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 victory over Galan for Altmaier’s sixth ATP Challenger Tour victory.
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The victory earned the 24-year-old a first-place payout of $21,650 of the $160,000 total purse, along with 125 ATP points. Galan took home $12,770 and 75 ATP points.
Though Galan was seeded higher than Altmaier heading into the final, the German had reason to be confident. “We played three times already, and I’d won two of them,” he said. “So I knew what I was getting into. In the final, both players are very confident.”
As for Galan, he will rue the myriad unforced errors he committed, though as he said after the match, “maybe he forced me to do those shots. It was also very windy today and a little bit uncomfortable. Those were the conditions, and I guess I just have to learn to be better for the next one.”
His serve broken four times, Galan expressed frustration several times during the nearly two-hour match. Tied at 2-all in the first set, he was broken in the fifth game on an Altmaier overhand winner. Galan broke back in the next game to knot it at 3-all, but five games later, at 5-5, he was broken again. Rallying to force a tiebreaker, Galan was overwhelmed by Altmaier, who won it 7-1.
The first-set loss seemed to take the starch out of Galan’s game. Down two games to one in the second set, he was broken on a beautiful Altmaier backhand down the line. After Altmaier held, making it 4-1, he broke Galan for the last time. Holding serve, Altmaier finished off Galan in quick fashion.
“Oh, yeah, I did try many different things at the end,” Galan said. “I just couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities that I had, the break points and all those things. At the (big) moments, it was more for him. It’s a shame, but it was still a good week.”
“I have good timing on clay,” said Altmaier, who was flying out of Miami following the Open for an ATP event in Munich, Germany. “I had good position staying back and then coming closer to the net. So, I think, in general I had a good game plan.
It ended with a victory at the 2023 Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Daniel Altmaier defeats Daniel Galan in final of Sarasota Open tennis
