Gilles Simon routs Stanislas Wawrinka to reach fourth round – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Seeded at number 13 in the tournament draw, Gilles Simon of France dumped 23rd seed Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in the round of 32 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, USA on Monday.
The opener went with the serves until the ninth game, when Simon capitalised on the second break point to grab a 5-4 lead. The Frenchman did not face much difficulty in serving out the set in the next game, winning it 6-4.
Simon gave a stunning serve performance. The right-hander smashed four aces and 60 percent of the first deliveries. The Frenchman converted 12 of the 15 first and eight of the 10 second serves into points. In comparison, Wawrinka
was a bit off colour, as he failed to fire any ace and hit a double fault. The Swiss won just 16 of the 25 first and eight of the 15 second delivery points in the opener.
After clinching the first set, Simon came roaring in the second. The French grabbed breakthrough immediately and held his serve in the next game to secure a 2-0 lead. Simon struck again in the fifth and consolidated on it to stretch
the advantage to 5-1. Wawrinka was almost broken once more but he managed to save three threats and won a marathon game of 20 points. That gave the Swiss some confidence boost and he captured two more games in a row to reduce the trail to 4-5. However, that
was not enough as Simon won the next game without dropping a single point to seal the set 6-4.
Simon delivered one ace and the same number of double fault. The 27-year-old put in 70 percent of the first serves and bagged 14 of the 19 points on them. The Frenchman targeted his opponent’s second deliveries, turning aggressively
to win an incredible 13 of the 17 points on them. Wawrinka improved his serve, as he pounded four aces but failed to save two of the nine break threats he faced in the second set.
The former world number six had advanced to the last 16 for the first time in Indian Wells. In his previous five appearances here, Simon lost three times in the third round and twice in the second. He was upset by the then world
number 239 Ivo Karlovic in straight sets 3-6, 3-6 in the round of 32 last year.
The French is drawn to play either Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain or American Ryan Harrison in the next match.
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