© Bogdan Maran
Frenchman Gilles Simon will charge to a career-high South African Airways ATP Ranking of around No. 30 after defeating Victor Hanescu 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the Bucharest title Sunday. 

The 22-year-old, who has reached the quarterfinals or better in four of his past five tournaments, claimed his second title of the year (Marseille) by winning the final clay court tournament of the 2007 ATP season.

The sixth seed will finish the season with an 18-10 record on clay, which included a recent run to the Sopot semifinals.

Simon cracked the Top 40 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the first time on March 5 and now will move to the cusp of the Top 30 by winning the Bucharest title.

Wild card Hanescu, 26, was searching for his first ATP title. It was the first time Hanescu had reached the quarterfinals or better at an ATP event all year.

After being sidelined most of last season with an abdominal injury suffered in Davis Cup play and later a back injury, Hanescu dropped to No. 643 in the year-end rankings.

WHAT THE PLAYER SAID

Simon: "It feels great to win my second title. It's very different from the first one in Marseille earlier this year. In Marseille it was quite a surprise, but here I was the favorite in all my matches and once I got to the quarters I saw all the top seeds losing and I knew that I had good chances to win."

"After losing the first set I told myself to keep on fighting. I knew that I could win it if I played well and it's always very disappointing to lose a final. In the other matches I always had the crowd cheering for me but of course today they were on Victor's side.

"Now I have two weeks off before I play my next tournament in Metz. I hope that my knee will be okay by then. Today I couldn't move as good as usual."

Hanescu: "It was a great week for me and a pleasure to play so well in Romania. Of course I'm disappointed to lose after winning the first set. I was a bit tired from the second set on and Gilles started to play much better. Now my goal is to get back into the Top 50 as quickly as possible."

Saturday: Local Favorite Hanescu to Meet Simon in Final
Friday: Local Favorite Hanescu, Two Frenchmen into SFs
Thursday: Starace Strikes a Blow to Local Hopes
Wednesday: Two Qualifiers Advance to Quarterfinals
Tuesday: Qualifier Monfils Springs a Surprise; Almagro Out
Monday: Andreev Advances; Defending Champ Ousted

- Copyright © ATP Tour, Inc. 2007