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8/19/11 6:38 AM | Ricky Dimon
Gilles Simon has been a marathon man so far in Cincinnati, winning a trio of three-set matches. Simon's reward is a quarterfinal date with Andy Murray on Friday.
Andy Murray and Gilles Simon will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers when they do battle in the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open on Friday afternoon.
Murray is dominating the head-to-head series 6-1, a record that includes a pair of 2011 victories. The two competitors faced each other twice during the clay-court swing, with Murray prevailing 6-3, 6-3 at the Monte-Carlo Masters and 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 at the Madrid Masters. Simon's lone win over Murray came in their first-ever encounter back in 2007.
Simon is a considerable underdog once again, in part because he has already spent tons of time on court this week. The 12th-ranked Frenchman beat Jurgen Melzer 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 20 minutes, overcame Janko Tipsarevic 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-3 in two hours and 56 minutes, then survived a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 marathon with David Ferrer after three hours and eight minutes on Thursday.
Thanks to his trio of three-set victories, Simon is a stellar 33-18 for his 2011 campaign. Twice a quarterfinalist in Cincinnati, Simon is looking for his third title of the year following triumphs in Sydney and Hamburg.
Interestingly, Murray's total time on the court in Cincinnati is less than the duration of the Simon-Ferrer match--two hours and 58 minutes to be exact. After a first-round bye, the fourth-ranked Scot hammered both David Nalbandian and Alex Bogomolov in straight sets. Murray is now 31-10 for what has been an up-and-down season.
As past history suggests, this is not a particularly good matchup for Simon. Murray can do everything Simon does well--retrieve, keep the ball in play, and change pace--in addition to a bigger serve and more experience at this point in major events. Look for a well-rested Murray to advance in straight sets.
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Right on alex! And another heat of the day match for Andy! And poor Simon, hardly any rest after that epic, that's poor scheduling and down to Sky, I suppose.
Come on Andy, time to strut your stuff!
deuce , 8/19/11 10:23 AM
And look who gets the only evening match!
Luckily Andy is used to the humidity of Florida so he shouldnt have any problem with weather conditions today even though it is another midday start. I just hope poor Gilles can muster the strength after his duel with Ferrer to make it a match so Andy has enough match play to prepare him for the SF. Are you hoping it will be Fish or you know who?
ed251137 , 8/19/11 11:09 AM
deuce, I doubt that SKY has any say in this it will be down to the American Network to decide who plays where and when. Rafa has been playing doubles as well so he's had to do day sessions otherwise I'm sure he would have been sitting around all day waiting for the night sessions as he always does.
nadline , 8/19/11 11:26 AM
nadline, Andy has said as much in interview, really recently. Also, don't forget how influential Murdoch is in the States.
deuce , 8/19/11 11:56 AM
I love watching these 2 play,
Lots of long rallies that fit right in to M Bears tennis style.
Look to see Andy's form raise for this one, if he gets through that is....
Sosueme , 8/19/11 1:37 PM
Andy versus little Andy
nirv02 , 8/19/11 2:52 PM
i don't like that kind of tennis... defence...defence....defenzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!
But Andy will win in strait sets...
zare , 8/19/11 3:10 PM
Its more like a chess match rather than just defenzzzz, you'll see, if you bother to watch.
If it was Monfils against Simone then it would be dull.
I dunno Zare,
Novie-B also seems to play defence, defence, defence against most nowadays...
Or am I missing something?
Sosueme , 8/19/11 3:24 PM
Yes.... you are missing the fact who is playing today... Simon "Art of Defense" and Andy "King of defense"...
And I will watch... don't worry... I like tennis... even when Novak don't play :)
...and this US season is killing me... go to bad in 4, 5 o'clock in morning... and in 9h I am on tennis court with my son's trainer ...
zare , 8/19/11 3:33 PM
... and pls don't tell me that you have never fall asleep while watching chess party:)
zare , 8/19/11 3:36 PM
this should be awesome...if Gilles is still standing up
RickyDimon , 8/19/11 3:43 PM
@Zare,
Not when Andy is in it, no.
The other counterpunchers I can take or leave, it depends.
Of-course Andy can also be aggressive too.
Very aggressive.
Sosueme , 8/19/11 4:16 PM
Nobody denies that Sosueme...
Crazy run across the court... difficult ball even to catch... and BUMMM!!! ... here comes the devastating crosscourt forehand!
OMG... he can do that... but he do it so rarely... everything is in his head!
zare , 8/19/11 4:27 PM
Tell me about Zare!
Can't really disagree with you on that.
Sosueme , 8/19/11 4:47 PM
Not bad, Andy!
stu , 8/19/11 6:37 PM
Lacklustre. It is probably the heat? pff these guys are killing there chances for US Open. You'll be lucky if you pklay americans in these tourneys nice evening and night matches. no heat and sunstrokes.
Sienna , 8/19/11 6:48 PM
nice one, muzz, the improvement continues :) poor simon, looked pretty spent out there. i reckon rafa/fish is gonna be pretty tight.
alex , 8/19/11 7:16 PM
Come on alex and Sosueme, all together "There's only one Andy Murray"....and thank God for that or we'd all be even more shredded...
Yay Andy! Come on! Revenge on Fish, revenge on Rafa, I don't mind!
deuce , 8/19/11 7:49 PM
Gilles Simon
Andy Murray
Cincinnati
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And again ... all men's QFs on Centre Court ... EXCEPT, of course, for former Cincy champ muzz. As I said last round, no complaints, but just want folks to remember this when muzz gets centre stage next grass season ;)
alex , 8/19/11 10:05 AM