Simon’s Save: Gilles Overcomes M.P. Against Paire

A decade ago, Gilles Simon won the title in Casablanca to begin the best year of his career, eventually finishing the season at No. 7 in the ATP Rankings and advancing to the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals, where he beat Roger Federer in round-robin play.

Now, the Casablanca tournament is in Marrakech. And Simon got off to a good start there on Monday, saving a match point before upsetting French compatriot Benoit Paire, the sixth seed, 6-2, 6-7(1), 7-6(5) at the Grand Prix Hassan II.

The 33-year-old, who won the Tata Open Maharashtra to open the season, saved match point while serving at 4-5 in the decider and then overcame a 5/1 deficit in the final-set tie-break to extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead to 5-3 against Paire.

“The conditions were not easy today with the cold weather and the wind. It was a difficult match and I didn’t manage to finish it in the second set,” said Simon, who served for the match at 5-3 in the second set. “At 5/1 in the tie-break I thought that the match was almost over, but I managed to come back and win.”

Fortune favoured the brave, as on Paire’s match point, Simon hit a big inside-out forehand and swooped in to take a short reply out of the air, hitting a confident forehand swinging volley into the open court for a winner. And then after overcoming a slow start in the tie-break, the 13-time ATP World Tour titlist seized his first match point with a massive inside-in forehand return that Paire could not handle. 

Simon, who had lost three of his past nine matches after triumphing in Pune, will next face German Maximilian Marterer or Quito champion Roberto Carballes Baena. The Frenchman has won both of his FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Marterer, including one earlier this year in Marseille. He has not played Carballed Baena.

Another former Top 10 Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, snapped a four-match losing streak with a 6-1, 7-6(2) victory against Italian Thomas Fabbiano in the only other main-draw match of the day. The fourth seed will next face Spanish veteran Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or compatriot Calvin Hemery, who seeks his second tour-level victory and first of the season. 

Gasquet, who had lost his previous six completed sets (retired down 1-3 v. Herbert at Rotterdam), trailed by a break twice in the second set against the World No. 102, but broke back when Fabbiano served for the second set. And in the second-set tie-break, the Frenchman was simply too consistent from the baseline, closing out his win in one hour, 27 minutes.

Did You Know?
Simon has won at least one ATP World Title in a season nine times during his career.