Gilles Simon defeats Ivan Ljubicic in the first round of 2011 Mutua Madrid Open
World number twenty Gilles Simon needed two hours to defeat Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 7-6(8) in the first round match of the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. The French pro took down his Monacan opponent in straights sets to ensure
his berth in the second round of the tournament. The French pro has definitely gained some much-needed momentum after this win and will look to sustain it when he goes up against Andy Murray for the seventh time in the second round of the tournament on Wednesday.
The French pro started the first in a very defensive manner and destroyed his estimable contender with high degree of aggression. But he retreated from the aggression when the battle stiffened in the final set against Monacan,
who joined his superior power with efficient consistency to take the set into a tie-break. However the French Pro struggled hard and managed to come out on the winning side with two more points than his opponent. Gilles was way too solid for the inconsistent
and absent-minded Ljubicic, who committed three double faults and number of unforced errors to ensure he was sent packing.
The 26-year-old Simon, who had planned to fight for every ball, entered the field with a lot of confidence and determination and made his opponent run every corner. Simon scored 88 percent whereas his opponent won equally impressive
82 percent behind his meager 40 percent first serves. Ruthless forehands and excellent shot selection with some good length were seen by both the players that tied the score at 5-5. Simon who bagged 100 percent of breakpoints on return, managed to sting a
critical serve break in the next game to take the set 7-5. Ljubicic played fairly decent but he couldn’t keep the ball in play in the tie-breaker and pretty much gifted the first set.
The final set saw, the Monacan struggling hard with her first serves accuracy, won 73 percent of his first service games and just 57 percent behind his second serves. The Monacan continuously battled for almost two hours against
his French opponent who wasn’t willing to drop his serve either. The match stayed closely fought before a tie break was enforced that could decide the outcomes of the set. Just from then onwards Simon put his double-handed backhands to great effect and concluded
the match with 7-6(8) to walk through to the second round of the tournament. With this win, a heavily fatigued Simon went 2-3 in their head to head record.
The 26-year-old Simon played exceptionally well against his opponent and his fine two-handed backhand proved to be an excellent weapon to eject his opponent out of the tournament. The French pro has gained a lot of confidence that’s
really going to help him in his future match-ups.
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