Gilles Simon defeats Kevin Anderson to clinch Maharashtra Open tennis title

Gilles Simon had never beaten South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in three meetings on the ATP tour, though he had taken him to three sets on two of those occasions.

However, the 33-year-old from France used the big stage of an ATP 250 Series final to record his first win against Anderson on Saturday.

Simon negated Anderson’s booming service with superb returns for a 7-6(4), 6-2 win in the final of the Tata Open Maharashtra to clinch his maiden title in India. This was his 13th ATP tour singles title and earned him 250 ranking points and a cheque of $89,435 while Anderson got 150 points and a cheque of $47,105 for his efforts.

Simon, who won his last ATP tour title at Marseille in 2015, was once ranked among top 10 and has slipped to 89 in rankings. But on Saturday, the 6’0” Frenchman seemed to have launched his bid to climb back into the top echelons with a dominating performance against a player ranked 14th in the world.

READ | Roger Federer, Belinda B encic lead Switzerland to Hopman Cup tennis title

However, his bid to complete a grand double came a cropper against the superior display by the Dutch combination of Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop, the second seeds in the doubles section.

Simon and his partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert lost to Haase-Middelkoop 7-6(5), 7-6(5). Haase won his first doubles title here after finishing runner-up in 2011 to Leander Paes amd Mahesh Bhupathi. Simon was attempting to become only the fourth player to win both the singles and doubles title in the ATP 250 event in India. Stan Wawrinka, Xavier Malisse and Byran Black have won both titles while Malisse did a grand double in 2007.

In the singles final, Simon uses his groundstrokes to great effect and showed a lot of energy for someone who has also played doubles in this tournament, reaching the final there too.

Anderson, who also reached the final in Abu Dhabi, served superbly but made a lot of unforced errors, despite coming back from a break down in the first set.

In the first set, Simon survived a few anxious moments in the fourth game that went to deuce five times. He saved two break points as both players fought tooth and nail to gain early advantage.

READ | Simona Halep fires Australian Open warning with Shenzhen Open tennis title

The Frenchman was successful in grabbing the initiative three games later when he broke Anderson’s serve. The South African, the tallest finalist in a Grand Slam when he finished runners up at the 2017 US Open, had served well till that game. He had blasted six aces and had not looked troubled at all on his serve. But Simon used his superb backhand returns to create pressure and earned two break points. Though Anderson saved one, Simon wrapped up the break with a stunning backhand down the line winner.

However, his advantage stayed only for few minutes as his South African rival broke back to level scores. They both held serve as the set went into tie-breaker.

Anderson jumped to an early 3-1 lead before committing couple of unforced errors to lose advantage. Simon then produced three superb winners including a brilliant forehand crosscourt to win the tie-breaker 7-4.

Simon broke Anderson in the sixth game of the second set, though he had a chance to do it in the second game too. He broke him again in the eighth game as Anderson’s game fell apart.

“I have not beaten him in three matches so far and I don’t know how I did it today. It was a well-fought match,” Simon said.