( CNN ) -- Gilles Simon secured his second title of the 2011 season by defeating Nicolas Almagro to lift the German Tennis Championships in Hamburg . The Frenchman beat his Spanish opponent 6-4 4-6 6-4 in two hours and 38 minutes to claim his ninth career triumph . Simon 's victory was his first on clay since the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in 2008 and will see him move up to 11 in the world rankings . Under the roof at the Rothenbaum Tennis Center , Simon , the number five seed , needed just one break of serve to take the opening set , after his opponent had squandered eight break points . Almagro edged the second set but an early break in the decider set Simon on course for his first title since winning the Medibank International in Australia back in January . `` I feel very , very good . I had to win so many tough matches this week , '' Simon told the ATP World Tour 's official web site . `` Today , the final was really hard to win . I had to play my best tennis to win and I 'm proud to win this tournament . '' `` It was a high intensity final . I think Nicolas played very good tennis , very consistent , '' said Simon . `` I knew before he could hit very hard , but also , he did n't miss anything , so I really had to fight hard on every point . We played almost three hours and it was a really , really hard match . '' `` I think the first game of the third set , I did n't play my best tennis . That game , I made three mistakes in the important moments , '' admitted Almagro . `` He played really well . I had many break points and did n't do anything on many of them . Congratulations to him as he played really good all week . ''
Gilles Simon beats Nicolas Almagro to win the German Tennis Championships . Frenchman beats his Spanish opponent 6-4 4-6 6-4 in Hamburg . - The U.S. Open begins with a record number of players advancing through qualifying.