• ATP Tour

Gilles Simon remains on collision course with Murray

ESPN staff
September 28, 2011
Gilles Simon is the third seed at the Thailand Open © Getty Images
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World No. 12 Gilles Simon remains on course for a semi-final meeting with Andy Murray after he battled through his opening match at the Thailand Open on Wednesday.

Simon, who like Murray enjoyed a first-round bye, was made to fight for nearly three hours before he defeated Yen-Hsun Lu 6-7(4) 7-5 6-4. He now needs one more victory to book a date with Murray, who begins his campaign in the second round on Thursday.

In an extremely even encounter that saw both players win 116 points apiece, Simon became stronger as the contest unravelled. Having exchanged breaks in each of the first two sets, the Frenchman suddenly opened up five break opportunities in the decider, accepting one of them to finish the contest.

Seventh seed Robin Haase is out of the competition after he lost two tiebreakers to Jarkko Nieminen. Both men broke three times, but it was the Finn who had the edge in either set, winning 7-6(5) 7-6(4).

Elsewhere, Matthias Bacchinger joined Simon and Nieminen in the quarter-finals, while Tobias Kamke and Go Soeda made it through their first-round clashes.

At the Malaysian Open, Marcos Baghdatis, Jurgen Meltzer and Dmitry Tursunov all advanced to the last eight in Kuala Lumpur. All three players won in straight sets to exert their authority on the competition.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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