TENNIS WORLD

Simon Earns First U.S. ATP Title Over Tursunov

Second-seeded Gilles Simon (pictured) captured his first ATP title in the U.S. as he beat third-seeded and defending champion Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4, at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships presented by Lilly on Sunday.
The 23-year-old Frenchman won his second ATP title of the season and became the first player from France to win the Indy title in tournament history. The last Frenchman to reach the final was Olivier Delaitre in 1994.
Simon, a winner in Casablanca in May, was making his first appearance in Indianapolis. En route to the final, he won all four of his matches in three sets, including wins over No. 5 seed Tommy Haas in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Sam Querrey in the semifinals.
The No. 25th-ranked Simon, who saved eight break points in the third set of his win over Querrey, saved all nine break points he faced in Sunday's match. After breaking to take a 4-3 lead in the second set, he saved four in the eighth game as he battled back from love-40.
The only break in the opening set came in the third game as Simon went up 2-1. He didn't face another break point and served out the 43-minute set.
Tursunov, who won his fourth career ATP title in Sydney in January, was attempting to become only the third player to repeat titles in Indianapolis, the first since Andy Roddick in 2003-04. Pete Sampras also won back-to-back in 1991-92.
Besides not converting a break point, Tursunov also struggled on second serve points, winning only 34 percent compared to Simon's 64 percent. Simon converted two of six break points in the one hour and 35-minute match.
Simon joins Michael Llodra, a two-time ATP winner this year, and Fabrice Santoro, who won in Newport last week, as Frenchmen to earn ATP titles in 2008.
“Today was my best match. I didn’t have many unforced errors, I had a good serve," said Simon, who is expected to move to around a career-high No. 21. "That was the match I wanted to play. I was very close to playing my best tennis.
“It’s special for me because it’s not the kind of court I like best. I wanted to play a tournament just to get used to the court. This is a special win for me. It was really nice because every round I played a really good player. They were all good players with a big serve.
“Every time I played a break point, I played a nice point. You lose just one and you can lose the set. I don’t have a very good serve, so I know every match I’ll have to save some break points.”
Tursunov, who is now 4-2 lifetime in ATP finals, said: “When I had a break point, he played good and I made errors. He got the break early and put some pressure on me. I have to go for my shots, and there’s little margin of error. When I get nervous, it shows. I needed to stay in those points a little longer, but it’s a bit surprising how many balls he gets to. In the beginning of the first set I was trying to hit it pretty hard, but it seems like he feeds off your pace.”
Simon is the first-week leader of the Olympus US Open Series.