Gilles Simon stuns Tomas Berdych to enter semis – BNP Paribas Masters 2012
Crowd favourite, Gilles Simon, upset the fifth seed, Tomas Berdych, in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Masters 2012 on Friday. He nudged up a 6-4, 6-4 victory against the world number six to cruise into the semi-finals at this ATP (Association of Tennis
Professionals) Masters 1000 event held in Paris Bercy, France.
The local challenger, Simon displayed top notch tennis to outclass the Czech number one in their seventh encounter. After earning the glory in one hour and 51 minutes, the Frenchman extended his lead in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head Series by 5-2 against his
fellow 27-year-old and secured a place in the final four at this indoor hard court event.
Simon was quoted in an on-court interview after conquering the Czech:
"I'm happy to play well here this year, because when I was young I grew up nearby and I came to see this tournament. It's a very special tournament to me. I always wanted to do well here. Until today, I always played awfully bad when I came here, so I'm
trying to enjoy this year in Paris."
The Nice native was 1-4 down in the second set but made a spectacular comeback, eventually stealing the show. He reflected:
"I had good feelings today, and I made very few unforced errors. So he had to do the work and fight a lot. I was very consistent during the whole match. I know when I play him that I have some weapons that can bother him, and I did well today."
The Swiss resident stepped into his home soil tournament with conviction. He drew the first blood in the fifth game and jumped to a 4-2 lead. Simon then kept his remaining serves and eventually sealed the opener by winning six games to four. He dusted away
all three breakpoints he came across and converted one out of four break chances to his advantage.
Ranked 20th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Simon lost his path towards the following set. After gifting away his opening serve, he fell at 1-4. However, the French unleashed barrage of winners and reeled off five games in
a row. He blocked six out of seven breakpoints he faced and cashed two out of three break chances to formulate a 6-4 success.
Next up for Simon is the Polish qualifier, Jerzy Janowicz, who recorded a 3-6, 6-1, 4-1 retirement victory against eighth seeded Janko Tipsarevic to set up this battle.
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