Open 13 Final: Gilles Simon (5) d. Gael Monfils 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4).
Gilles Simon, the fifth seed, beat Gael Monfils 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) to win the ATP 250 Open 13 title in Marseilles. The title is Simon’s 12th and his second in Marseilles (2007).
The match
started out with the long rallies typical of previous matches
between the two. Both men stayed behind the baseline and hit deep, soft rally balls, careful not to give each other too much pace or angle to feed off.
Simon took the tentative first set 6-4, breaking Monfils twice, including in the final game when Monfils surrendered his serve tamely, hitting an unforced error off a routine backhand on break point.
That tame surrendering inspired Monfils to up his level and the game’s best athlete ran away with the second 6-1. The wild card served better than his opponent – he did not face a single break point- and brought Simon into the net with drop shots which Simon either could make nothing off, hitting the ball into the net or sent it back to Monfils only to watch it fly past him in the form of winning passing shots or over his head in the form of lobs.
Simon, who led Monfils 4-1 before the match
, broke early in the third set to lead 2-0, but was broken back and the two men held serve, Monfils with more ease than Simon, all the way to a deciding tiebreak.
Monfils got the minibreak at the start of the tie-breaker, but could not consolidate. The wild card faltered when it mattered most, and Simon kept his head and took the tiebreaker 7-4, winning championship point with a service winner
.
The title is Simon’s 12th, and his fifth indoor hard title. He is now 12-5 in ATP tour finals. Monfils meanwhile is now 5-17 in finals. The Frenchman did make some progress though in Marseilles. Before this year, he was 1-6 at the tournament and is now 5-7.
Commentary by Christian Deverille
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