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  • Cincinnati Second Round: James Blake vs. Gilles Simon

    7/30/08 2:33 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - Arguably no player is hotter than Gilles Simon at the moment. That could be bad news for James Blake, whose opening match in Cincinnati will come against the Frenchman.

    It will be the first-ever head-to-head meeting when James Blake and Gilles Simon play the first match on stadium court at the Masters Series Cincinnati on Wednesday. A berth in the third round--against either Ernests Gulbis or Arnaud Clement--is at stake. For Blake, this is probably not the best time to be getting a first look at Simon, because the Frenchman is playing the best tennis of his life right now. Blake, on the other hand, is in one of his usual up-and-down swings.

    Blake struggled this summer but he could be heating up just in time to thwart a Simon upset bid. The No. 8 player in the world lost in the second round of both Wimbledon and the French Open, but he is back on the hard stuff and thrived on that surface earlier this season. Blake finished runner-up in Delray Beach and reached the quarterfinals in San Jose, at the Masters Series Indian Wells, and at the Masters Series Miami. He reached another Masters Series quarterfinal last week in Toronto, but that momentum was crushed with a shocking blowout loss to Nicolas Kiefer.

    Simon fell to Kiefer one round later in Toronto, albeit in a third-set tiebreaker. That only increased Simon's lead in the U.S. Open Series standings, which he took by capturing the title in Indianapolis two weeks ago. Simon, up to a career-high No. 14 in the rankings, was supposed to play Kiefer again in the first round this week, but Kiefer withdrew so Simon took on lucky loser Rajeev Ram. Ram served for the opening set, but Simon bounced back and sent the American home in straights.

    Blake, of course, will be dictating all of the play against Simon throughout this encounter. He has a much bigger game and Simon has no weapon that can even compare to the Blake forehand. Simon, however, is a tough matchup for Blake because he will give his opponent no pace and Blake loves sending back balls with even more speed than hard ones come at him. Nonetheless, if Blake plays a smart match and goes for his shots at the right times, he will outlast Simon in three sets.

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