Gilles rallies to upset Cilic, in final
Frenchman, ranked 89, comes back to oust top seed and twotime champion; faces Kevin Anderson for title
Soon after clinching his place in the Tata Open Maharashtra semi-finals, Marin Cilic had dubbed his next round opponent Gilles Simon of France dangerous. “He has a good record against me. We had some close matches and I will have to be at my best against him,” Cilic said.
The 6’6” World No 6 looked at his best in the first set, served hard and blasted off the blocks to take a 5-0 lead and won the set 6-1.
But the 2017 Wimbledon finalist failed to capitalise on the momentum and allowed Simon to play his usual counter-punching style of play, letting him dictate terms.
The 89-ranked Frenchman fed off the crowd support, got into a rhythm and won the next two sets to knock the top seed out of the Tata Open Maharashtra. A fired-up Simon won the twohour long slugfest 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to enter the final on his maiden visit to India.
Simon had a 5-1 head-to-head advantage against Cilic, a twotime champion of the ATP 250 Series event in India and the former US Open champion. With this comeback, the 33-year-old is now the favourite to win the title.
GREAT START BY CILIC
Cilic came out with all guns blazing breaking Simon in the second and fourth games. He wrapped up the set in 27 minutes.
The second set mirrored the first in terms of score but this time it was Simon who surged to 4-0 lead, breaking Cilic in the second and fourth games.
The gangling Croatian made a number of unforced errors and though he got a break back, that was not enough as Simon wrapped up the set 6-3.
In the decider, Simon broke Cilic in the first game, capitalising on couple of unforced errors. The Croatian had a great chance to win game two as he earned two break points. But Simon showed great resolve and won the longest game of match that went to deuce four times.
In the final, Simon will meet number two seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa. The 31-yearold world no 14, who reached the
US Open final in 2017, beat France’s Benoit Paire, the fourth seed, winning 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 6-1.
Gilles Simon set himself for a grand double as he reached the men’s doubles semi-final with Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Simon and Herbert defeated the all-Indian pair of Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan 6-4, 7-6(2).