Gilles Simon overpowers injury-stricken Janko Tipsarevic – Valencia Open 2012
French contender, Gilles Simon, overpowered third seeded Janko Tipsarevic at the Valencia Open 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 Series event held in Valencia, Spain. He recorded a 5-4 retirement victory against the Serbian
number two to progress into the second round on Tuesday.
The Nice native stayed on track to bid for his second year-to-date title after recording this victory in 44 minutes. Tipsarevic was forced to withdraw after he lost his serve in the ninth game with a right shoulder injury. As a result, Simon avenged his
loss at the Rakuten Open in Japan few weeks ago and improved to a 6-2 lifetime in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head Series against the world number nine.
Tipsarevic made a stunning entry at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. He drew the first blood in the second game and jumped to a 3-0 lead. However, the Serb stepped off steam afterwards.
Ranked 19th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Simon rebounded after that and reeled off three games in a row. After Tipsarevic kept his serve in the seventh game, the French up a gear again and broke his rival’s serve in the
ninth game.
The Serbian star felt severe pain after that and eventually pulled out from the tournament with right shoulder injury.
Simon will next face off the winner of the match between Spain’s Marcel Granollers and the Czech qualifier, Jan Hajek.
Elsewhere, top seeded David Ferrer stole the show and progressed in the round of 16. He dumped the Belgian qualifier, Olivier Rochus, in straight sets in two hours and 13 minutes.
The Spanish number two spilled four double faults but fired seven aces to prevail throughout the battle. He dropped his serve three times but cashed five out of 18 break chances to formulate a 7-5, 7-5 victory. Ferrer produced a lower first serve share but
acceptably marked 28 out of 38 points on it.
As a result, the seeded Spaniard improved to a 7-2 record in the head-to-head series against Rochus and set up a date with his compatriot, Albert Ramos.
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