The 37-year-old Frenchman, ex-numéro 6 worldwide and today ranked 188ᵉ, fought more than three hours to win against the American (number 11) 7-5, 5-7, 6- 4.
Le Monde with AFP
Gilles Simon qualified for the knockout stages of Paris Masters 1000, which will be the last tournament in his career, beating, Wednesday, November 2, the American Taylor Fritz (world number) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. French – former number 6 worldwide and today ranked 188
The Niçois announced in May that he would put his racket away after the season. He received an invitation to enter the Bercy main draw, where a ceremony in his honor is planned for the day he loses. This ceremony has already been postponed twice. On Monday, he had managed to retreat the deadline by winning in the first round against the former world number 1 Andy Murray, after a two -hour and fifty -minute fight that seemed lost in the middle of the second set.
An almost packed and very noisy Arena
He fought even longer against Fritz, since it took three hours and six minutes to the two men to decide.
Winner of the first set 7-5, Simon seemed able to crack Fritz in the second by succeeding the station wagon to lead 2-1. But the American managed to contain his nerves. Fritz rolled out immediately, then saved three new Break balls at 5-5 before taking Simon’s service to equalize to a set everywhere. In the decisive sleeve, Fritz was more serene about his put into play than Simon, but it was the French who succeeded in the decisive break, on his one and only break ball, to lead 5-4 and serve for the match .
In an almost packed and very noisy Arena, which supported it from start to finish, Simon then offered two match balls and concluded on the first.