Simon Survives Tricky Opener In Rotterdam

Making his 11th appearance at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Gilles Simon worked his way past Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3 over two hours and 41 minutes on Wednesday.

As the oldest man in the ATP 500 draw, the 35-year-old hit nine aces en route to the second round. Simon, who has reached the semi-finals in Rotterdam on three occasions (2008, '13, '15), improves to 4-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against the Kazakh. Simon will next face defending champion Gael Monfils, winner of last week’s Open Sud de France title (d. Pospisil), or Joao Sousa for a place in the quarter-finals.

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Kukushkin saved four break points at 1-2, then led 3/2 in the tie-break before Simon won five straight points to clinch the 61-minute opener. Kukushkin responded by winning 12 of the first 14 points in the second set, before converting his second set point to force a decider.

Simon made the crucial breakthrough at 3-2 in the third set, playing with depth from behind the baseline to force Kukushkin into forehand errors. The Frenchman advanced to the second round in style, ripping a backhand winner down the line before raising his arms in celebration. 

Jannik Sinner, the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion, who was ranked No. 549 in the FedEx ATP Rankings 12 months ago, gained his place in the second round without hitting a ball when Radu Albot withdrew due to illness. Sinner now faces 2017 finalist and fourth seed David Goffin or wild card Robin Haase in the second round.

This evening, top seed Daniil Medvedev challenges Vasek Pospisil and Grigor Dimitrov takes on Felix Auger-Aliassime.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2vuGUeE