Gilles Simon hunts down Dudi Sela in the second round – BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy 2012
World number 12, Gilles Simon of France, had an excellent beginning to his BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy campaign on Thursday, beating the 63rd ranked Israeli veteran, Dudi Sela, in the second round. The top seeded French
registered a 6-4, 6-2 victory over his 27-year-old age fellow to book a spot in the quarter-final rounds of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event in Bucharest, Romania.
Simon kept his clean sheet against the Israeli opponent, beating him three times in a row. He first outplayed Sela in the second round of 2011 Wimbledon Championships and then again this year at the Indian Wells Masters. The French
now has 18-10 winning record for the 2012 ATP season and leads 3-0 against Sela in the FedEx head-to-Head series.
The Thursday’s contest remained evenly poised in the first half but momentum tended to shift towards the Frenchman’s side in the later parts of the match. Sela posed some early resistance to stretch the opening set to 10 games
but couldn’t take the better of Simon’s exceptional serve game and went 0-1 down. The top seeded French then shifted his gears in the second set and spared just two games for his opponent before concluding the matchup in his favour.
Simon bagged 23 out of 33 first serve points and dropped his serve only once in the entire contest. He broke Sela four out of six times to remain a step ahead of him all the time. His return game was equally good and he kept firing
assertive winners down on regularity. Simon was the first one to suffer a break point in the fourth game of the match but he stung a serve break in the very next game to fritter away his opponent’s advantage. Another breakthrough in the ninth game left him
serving for the set and he won the opening set at 6-4.
The top seed French registered cracking break points in the first and seventh games of the second set to finish off the proceedings at 6-2. He will take on the seventh seed Pole contender, Lukasz Kubot, in the quarter-final draw
on Friday.
Tags: