Janko Tipsarevic outlasts Gilles Simon in the round of 16 – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
Seventh seed, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, moved to his second Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season, as he rallied to beat France’s Gilles Simon, seeded ninth at the event, in three sets 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-1 in the third round at
the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain on Thursday. The Serbian took two hours and 38 minutes to down Simon in a close match.
In the first set, none of the two players succeeded in making a breakthrough, equalising the score at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. Tipsarevic made a superb start, grabbing first four points to go up 4-0 and making the most
of it to triumph 7-6(3).
The Serbian was amazing with his first serves, winning 19 of the 26 points on them and pounding his opponent with nine aces. Tipsarevic and Simon played brilliantly on their second deliveries, capturing 12 of the 15 and 11 of the
14 points on them respectively. Both of them didn't give each other any opportunity to break in the opener.
Tipsarevic and Simon held in the first 11 games of the second set, taking the score to 6-5 in favour of the latter. The Serbian failed to win even a single point on his serve in the 12th game, going down 5-7.
Both players banged in three aces but Simon committed a couple of double faults compared to none by Tipsarevic in the second set. The Frenchman had a lower first serve percentage at second delivery conversion rate than his opponent.
Nevertheless, Simon played superiorly when it mattered most, as he put away all the seven break threats he came across and capitalised on the only chance he got.
Tipsarevic raised the level of his game after losing a close second set and looked like a completely different player in the decider, hitting blows to the Frenchman in the first and third game to build a 4-0 lead. Simon managed
to win only one game in the entire set, getting broken again in the seventh to lose 1-6.
The Serbian maintained a remarkable conversion rate on his serve, bagging eight of the 11 first and four of the five second delivery points. He did not provide Simon any break opportunity and utilised three of the seven of his
own in the decider.
Tipsarevic is pitted against countryman, Novak Djokovic, in the quarter-final. Top seed, Djokovic, beat Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-4 in the third round.
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