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  • Preview Rotterdam: Janko Tipsarevic vs. Gilles Simon

    2/20/08 10:50 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - The nightcap of Wednesday’s play at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands does not feature two of the biggest names in tennis, but it should produce a highly-entertaining and evenly-matched affair. Janko Tipsarevic and Gilles Simon are set to do battle after scoring impressive opening-round victories.

    Not well-known heading into the 2008 season, Janko Tipsarevic quickly made a name for himself at the Australian Open. The Serb, often overshadowed by compatriot, won two matches Down Under before it was a loss that really put him in the spotlight. Tipsarevic met world No. 1 Roger Federer in the third round and the result was a showdown for the ages. After four hours and 25 minutes and 18 games played in the final set alone, Federer finally prevailed 10-8 in the fifth. It was not, however, before Tipsarevic put on a spectacular display of shot-making and won over a horde of supporters in the process.

    Simon has been a consistently solid performer on the ATP Tour over the last two full years, but he is still searching for one marquee moment in his career with which to truly announce himself as a serious force to be reckoned with on a weekly basis. The Frenchman did, however, enjoy a breakout of sorts last year. Entering the season with just one runner-up finish on his resume, Simon won two titles in 2007; the first on the indoor hard courts of Marseille, France and the second on clay in Bucharest, Romania.

    Simon failed to defend his Open 13 title last week, but he still managed to reach the quarterfinals and he took out top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the process. In three other tournaments this season, Simon suffered a first-round defeat in Adelaide to compatriot Michael Llodra, lost to Tomas Berdych in the second round of Sydney, and won two matches at the Australian Open before falling to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. He rolled over Feliciano Lopez in Rotterdam on Monday.

    All things being equal, this match looks like a toss-up on paper. Tipsarevic is ranked 44th in the world while Simon comes in at No. 36, both contestants are playing solid if not spectacular tennis at the moment, and both can get it done on hard courts. The deciding factor on Wednesday could be the Serb’s health. While Tipsarevic looked 100 percent in Monday’s upset win over defending champion Mikhail Youzhny, he has endured a recent injury problem. He missed Serbia’s first-round Davis Cup loss to Russia two weeks ago with a right thing injury and had to retire in his first match at a Challenger event in Belgrade just last week.

    If Tipsarevic is healthy—and by all indications he is—we have an outstanding matchup on our hands for the last clash on Day 3 of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

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