Dutchman Sjeng Schalken successfully defended his Ordina Open title with a comfortable straight-sets victory over Arnaud Clement in S'Hertogenbosch.

heered on by his home crowd, the third-seed claimed his eighth career singles title with a 6-3 6-4 win over his French opponent.

Schalken made the breakthrough early in the first set, breaking the seventh-seed in the third game before comfortably closing it out with little threat to his serve.

The 26-year-old then raced into a 4-1 lead in the second set, but Clement fought back bravely and levelled at 4-4 with a stunning backhand shot on break point.

Schalken, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, steadied himself and held his serve before retaining his crown with some aggressive returning on the shaky Clement delivery.