Gilles Simon downs Dudi Sela in the second round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
World number 16 Gilles Simon of France prevailed over world number 84 Dudi Sela of Israel in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-5 in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships at All England Club in London on Wednesday. It took
Simon two hours and four minutes to beat his opponent in an evenly contested match.
Sela was first to take lead as he broke the French in the third game of the first set and held his serve in the next game to go ahead 3-1. Simon broke back in the eighth game and levelled the score at 4-4. The French and Israeli
held their serve in the next four games to tie the score at 6-6 and took the set to a tie-break. Simon managed to claimed two mini-breaks in the tie-break, bagging it 7-3.
The right-handed served two aces and 55 percent of the first deliveries in the first set. The French played an aggressive game throughout the first set, hitting seven winners and winning 83 percent of the first service points in
the opening set. Simon converted one of the four break points he received on Sela’s serve but failed to save the only break point he faced on his own serve in the first set.
The French gained an early lead in the second set as he broke Sela in the opening game and consolidated on it to go ahead 2-0. Sela broke back in the sixth game and tied the score at 3-3. Simon broke again in the seventh game and
served out the set at 5-4.
The 26-year-old hit 46 percent of the first serves and fourteen winners in the second set. On the other hand, Sela served better as he delivered 86 percent of the first serves in the second set. The Israeli played quiet well at
the net as he won ten out of twelve net approach points in the second set. The five feet and nine inches tall capitalised on one of the four break point opportunities he created on Simon’s serve but failed to save two of the seven break points he faced on
his own serve in the second set.
Simon and Sela broke each other once in the first ten games of the third set, levelling the score at 5-5. The French broke the Tel Aviv resident in the eleventh game and served out the set in the next game, claiming it 7-5.
Simon hit a single ace and converted 85 percent of the first serves into points in the third set. The fifteenth seed won two of the three break points he received in the third set.
The French is drawn to play either world number 21 Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina or Belgian Olivier Rochus, ranked 73rd in the world, in the third round.
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