Defending champion Albert Montanes survives Gilles Simon’s attack – Mercedes Cup 2011
World No. 41, Espanola Albert Montanes rebounded after a first set loss to 4thseed Gilles Simon at the Tennis Club Weissenhof, Stuttgart, Germany to secure a three set victory.
Albert Montanes lost the first set 4-6 only to take charge during the second set where he returned smashingly one out two thus making 50 percent of his break points. The third set saw Simon worn out as he only managed to take 45
percent of the service points in that set compared to 58 percent during the rest of the game. In the deciding set, Albert managed to secure three service breaks, winning 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 in nearly two hours of the match The event was a nail-biting experience
for the spectators as they sat glued to their chairs.
Prior to this match, the players had battled it out earlier this season at Monte-Carlo where the Frenchman recorded his win in straight sets. The contesters have faced each other 4 times, where World No. 18 Gilles Simon has had
3 wins and one loss thus giving him a competitive edge against Albert Montanes. After this match the record is set at 3-2 giving another victory to Montanes.
Both the players have had a good year; the 30-year-old veteran, Albert, has had same number of wins and losses on his tour making it 15-15 record. During this year’s ATP World Tour he played three grand slams starting with the
Australian Open; he defeated Dustin Brown (GER) in the first round 6-4,6-2,3-6,2-6, 7-5 win but lost in the second to Xavier Malisse(BEL).
In a hope to make it to the semi finals at the Roland Garros, Albert lost the pre-quarterfinal at the hands of Fabio Fognini. His last run was at Wimbledon where he was defeated by Andreas Seppi in the first round.
On the other hand, 26 year old Simon made his fifth appearance at the first round of the Mercedes Cup 2011 with 25 wins and only 16 losses hoping to win consecutive matches for the first time since 2005 but alas! This season at
the championship run in Sydney, Australia, he defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov in quarterfinal and Ernests Gulbis in the semi-final; moving on to defeat Viktor Troicki 7–5, 7–6(4) in the final of the Sydney International and thus bagged his eighth career title
of the year.
The 30-year-old Espanola, Albert Montanes has qualified for the second round of the tournament and will be playing either fellow Pablo Andujar or Victor Crivoi.
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