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  • Rogers Cup Semifinal: Gilles Simon vs. Nicolas Kiefer

    7/26/08 7:35 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - It's not a semifinal anyone expected, but at the very least it should produce high-quality tennis. After all, Gilles Simon and Nicolas Kiefer are simply on fire.

    Raise your hand if you predicted one semifinal of the Rogers Cup would pit Gilles Simon against Nicolas Kiefer.

    Yeah, that's what I thought.

    It will be the first-ever head-to-head meeting between Simon and Kiefer when the two players do battle in an all-unseeded affair on Saturday afternoon in Toronto. And what a time for that first meeting; both men could not be hotter.

    Kiefer is playing some of his best tennis of his life even at 31 years old. After starting out slowly in 2008, Kiefer began righting the ship in May. He reached the quarterfinals in Hamburg, the semifinals in Halle, and the third round of Wimbledon. The No. 37 player in the world has been even more impressive so far this week. On Monday he scored a nice 7-5, 7-6(4) win over Mardy Fish and he followed that up with a mirror image 7-6(4), 7-5 decision over Mikhail Youzhny. After stunning 4th-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in round three, Kiefer demolished No. 7 seed James Blake 6-1, 6-2 in exactly one hour.

    If anyone is more on fire than Kiefer, it's Simon. The Frenchman took an early lead in the U.S. Open Series standings by capturing the title in Indianapolis six days ago. This week it has only been full steam ahead for Simon. Now at a career-high ranking of No. 22 in the world, Simon crushed Donald Young in his opener, shocked Roger Federer in three sets in the second round, then took out Jose Acasuso and Marin Cilic to reach the semifinals.

    When will this Gilles Simon train stop? If Kiefer wants to halt it, he needs to play the same kind of aggressive tennis that he displayed against Blake. The German won every single point in which he came to net on Friday and he must implement similar tactics against Simon. If Kiefer gets swindled into playing Simon's game, Simon will get ball after ball back in the court and let yet another opponent self-destruct.

    The winner will play either Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray in Sunday's title match. The loser, quite humorously, will get a chance for revenge in just a few days when Simon and Kiefer meet in the first round of the Masters Series Cincinnati.

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