Gilles Simon overcomes Arnau Brugues-Davi in the second round – Open Sud de France 2013
World number 14, Gilles Simon, overcame the early resistance of the Spanish qualifier, Arnau Brugues-Davi, in the second round of the Open Sud de France tournament on Thursday. The fourth seeded home favourite, Simon, had to battle
for one hour and 29 minutes to settle the match in straight sets, 7-6(5), 6-2, marching into the quarter-final round of the ATP World Tour 250 event in Montpellier, France.
It appeared to be an evenly contested battle in the opening set but Brugues-Davi proved to be easy bait for the Frenchman in the later one. The Spaniard was off to a very good start and went on neck-to-neck with Simon, dragging
the opener into the tie-breaker round. However, Simon used his experience to overpower him in the decider and then went out to cruise through the next set to conclude the match in an emphatic fashion.
The contest started off with both men holding their initial serves comprehensively. Brugues-Davi delivered the first blow in the third game and imposed a 3-1 lead over the superior ranked French. Simon held his remaining serves
and converted a vital break opportunity in the 10th game to level the scores at 5-5. Another successful serve hold from both sides brought a tie-break into play. Simon kept his poise and convincingly took the first set at 7-6(5).
Once getting into his winning groove, Simon raced through the second set, breaking his opponent in the third and seventh games to reach 5-2 in no time. He served out of the match and advanced to the quarter-final draw comprehensively.
Simon’s phenomenal serve game reached 71 per cent accuracy, including 12 aces and not even one double fault. He secured 37 out of 46 first serve points and converted three out of 14 break points en route to victory. On the other
hand, Brugues-Davi had four break chances but could merely register one serve break in the entire matchup to finish on the losing side in the end.
Simon will play his quarter-final match against his eighth seeded fellow compatriot, Benoit Paire, on Friday’s eve. Paire went through a tough three-setter against the unseeded Belgian, Steve Darcis, to book a date with Simon in
the round of eight.
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