Simon Advances To Marrakech QFs

Gilles Simon emerged victorious in a battle of 2018 ATP World Tour titlists at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Wednesday.

The Tata Open Maharashtra champion overcame surprise Ecuador Open winner Roberto Carballes Baena 7-5, 6-1 in one hour and 49 minutes to book his place in the quarter-finals. The French veteran won 66 per cent of points behind his first serve and will next meet 2014 champion Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or fourth seed Richard Gasquet.

Morocco’s Lamine Ouahab produced a huge shock to open the day on Court Central, coming from a set down to defeat World No. 34 Philipp Kohlschreiber 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(3). Ouahab, competing in his first main draw match on the ATP World Tour in two years, won 69 per cent of points behind his first serve and broke last year’s finalist (l. to Coric) on four occasions to seal the one-hour, 34-minute victory in a decisive final-set tie-break. The World No. 617 will next face Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, for a place in the quarter-finals.

“I was quite tense at the beginning,” admitted Ouahab. “This is my only chance to play an ATP World Tour 250-level event and it means a lot to me with a lot at stake.

“After a while I relaxed and focused on playing my game. That’s when I started playing better. I love playing at home and the support from the crowd is great. It helped a lot, especially in the final set.”

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Qualifier Alexey Vatutin produced one of the upsets of the day to beat top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(4), 6-2. The Russian, competing in his first ATP World Tour event, backed up his surprise win over Jan-Lennard Struff in style, taking just under two hours to knock the 2012 finalist out of the tournament.

Vatutin broke the World No. 23 on five occasions and will meet Pablo Andujar for a place in the semi-finals. Andujar, who recently won the Ferrero Challenger Open in Alicante, dropped just two games to advance, beating Andrea Arnaboldi 6-0, 6-2.

There was also success for Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, who scored an impressive comeback win over Marton Fucsovics 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. The wild card, who reached the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals (l. to Bautista Agut) in February, upset the Hungarian No. 1 in two hours and seven minutes to book a second-round meeting against No. 8 seed Mischa Zverev.

Radu Albot also followed the trend of the day in Marrakech, recovering from losing a one-sided first-set to win 12 of the next 15 games and beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. The Moldovan had lost all four previous sets played against the World No. 62, but found notable success behind his second serve (22/34) on the Moroccan clay to earn his place in a second-round clash with second seed Kyle Edmund.

Did You Know?
Ouahab reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II in 2015, when the event was played in Casablanca, defeating Robin Haase and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez before falling to Daniel Gimeno-Traver.