BANGKOK: 2009 Thailand Open winner Gilles Simon of France continued to struggle with shoulder problems but managed a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Japan’s Go Soeda yesterday to reach the quarterfinals.
Simon will line up for a semi-final spot on Friday when he faces compatriot Gael Monfils, playing in only his second event since returning after four months away with a knee injury.
Monfils upset Serb sixth seed Viktor Troicki 7-5, 7-5, changing tactics after trailing in the opening set.
“He was playing better early on and I was giving him mistakes. I tried a lot of things,” said the former French Open semifinalist. “Finally I began slicing more and hitting harder, it turned into a physical fight, I was able to run him all over the court.
“I’m gaining confidence from another quality win here. It was my second tough match here.” Monfils said that while he does not doubt Simon’s complaints about shoulder problems, he noted that his compatriot has not forsaken any ATP play as a result.
“How many events has he missed? Four months out with a knee injury is much worse. I’d much rather be him than me going into our match. I’m not saying he has nothing (wrong), but he’s still been playing all along.” Simon won the first two matches with Monfils, with his rival claiming their last one in February indoors at Montpellier.
Australian Bernard Tomic, seeded eighth, struggled in his own way as he played a tennis replica of himself, coming out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 second-round winner over Israeli opponent Dudi Sela after nearly two and a half hours.
Spanish fifth seed Fernando Verdasco put out 2011 finalist Donald Young 7-5, 6-4.
Tomic, whose own game gives opponents no chance to find their rhythm, found he was facing a mirror image of himself — and the 19-year-old admitted that he didn’t like it one bit.
“It was difficult to play aggressive against him, he gives you all kinds of stuff — like I do. I guess that’s why guys don’t like to play me.
“He gives you a lot of low balls that I don’t like. It was tight in the second and third sets, I was too defensive in the first set, but he doesn’t give you the chance to play aggressive with his style.
“It was tough for me, he’s been around and is tough to play,” said Tomic, who has now reached the quarterfinals in just four of his 22 tournaments in 2012.
The Aussie, who is ranked 41st and the only teenager in the ATP top 50, will play for the semi-finals against either French second seed Richard Gasquet or Grigor Dimitrov.
Simon said that his long, slow recovery form a shoulder injury is still taking a toll on his game as he faced Soeda, a 2011 Bangkok quarter-finalist.
“I’m not serving my best and that makes life difficult,” said the 19th-ranked Simon. “I don’t get any easy points, I have to fight every point from the baseline.
“I think we played a great match, all things considered. I had to play incredible from the baseline, I’m just happy to get through this one. My shoulder is slowly getting better, but I must continue to play this way for now.”
Nishikori in quarters
In Kuala Lumpur, Kei Nishikori of Japan reached his seventh quarterfinals of a breakthrough season when he beat Albert Ramos of Spain 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1 in the Malaysian Open yesterday.
The question is: Can he win it? In his six other quarterfinals this year, including at the Australian Open and London Olympics, he lost them all.
On Friday, the third-seeded Nishikori will play Nikolay Davydenko, whom he beat in the London Games.
The second-seeded Juan Monaco began his chase for a fourth title this year by beating Taiwanese wild card Jimmy Wang 6-4, 7-5. The Argentine responded to losing his serve three times by breaking Wang five times.
Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, the No. 4 seed who also had a first-round bye, lost to Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
“I started really bad and missed a lot of balls,” Dolgopolov said. “I came back in the second set but it was an up and down match.” Falla’s second quarterfinal of the year will be against Julien Benneteau of France.
Dutchman Igor Sijsling served up only his sixth win of the year with a second-round upset of No. 5 Feliciano Lopez of Spain, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (2). They played impeccably on serve with 11 aces each and no break points conceded, but Lopez crumbled in both tiebreaks.
Davydenko, the inaugural Malaysian champion three years ago, defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-5, 6-4 for his second quarterfinals in two weeks.
Simon to face Monfils in Bangkok French battle
Simon to face Monfils in Bangkok French battle
History-chasing Djokovic and Alcaraz to meet in Australian Open final after epic semifinal wins
- Carlos Alcaraz striving to become the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam
- Novak Djokovic is aiming to be the oldest man in the Open era to win a Grand Slam title
MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic finally beat one of the two men who have been blocking his path to an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title when he edged Jannik Sinner in five sets Friday to reach the Australian Open final.
To get that coveted No. 25, he’ll next have to beat the other: top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz.
They’re both chasing history in Sunday’s championship decider, with the 22-year-old Alcaraz striving to become the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam.
The top-ranked Alcaraz also had to come through a grueling five-setter. He fended off No. 3 Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in a match that started in the warmth of the afternoon Friday and, 5 hours and 27 minutes later, became the longest semifinal ever at the Australian Open.
That pushed the start of Djokovic’s match against Sinner back a couple of hours, and the 38-year-old Djokovic finally finished off a 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win just after 1:30 a.m.
“It feels surreal,” Djokovic said of his 4-hour, 9-minute triumph. “Honestly, it feels like winning already tonight. I know I have to come back … and fight the No. 1 of the world. I just hope that I’ll have enough gas to stay toe-to-toe with him.
“That’s my desire. Let the God decide the winner.”
Djokovic was at the peak of his defensive powers, fending off 16 of the 18 breakpoints he faced against the two-time defending Australian Open champion. It ended a run of five losses to Sinner, and a run of four semifinal exits for Djokovic at the majors.
“Had many chances, couldn’t use them, and that’s the outcome,” Sinner said. “Yeah, it hurts, for sure.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have split the last eight major titles between them since Djokovic won his last title at the 2023 US Open.
Nobody knows how to win more at Melbourne Park than Djokovic. He has won all 10 times he’s contested the Australian Open final.
He said he saw Alcaraz after the first of the semifinals was over and he congratulated him on reaching his first final at Melbourne Park.
“He said sorry to delay,” Djokovic later explained. “I told him ‘I’m an old man, I need to go earlier to sleep!”
Djokovic, aiming to be the oldest man in the Open era to win a Grand Slam title, was kept up late.
“I’m looking forward to meeting him on Sunday,” he said.
Final 4
With the top four seeds reaching the Australian Open men’s semifinals for just the fifth time, Day 13 was destined to produce some drama. The season-opening major had been a relatively slow burn, until the back-to-back five-setters lasting a combined 9 hours and 36 minutes.
Alcaraz and Zverev, the 2025 runner-up, surpassed the 2009 classic between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco as the longest ever Australian Open semifinal.
Medical timeout
Alcaraz was as close as two points from victory in the third set but was hampered by pain in his upper right leg and his medical timeout became contentious.
He said initially it didn’t feel like cramping because the pain seemed to be just in one muscle, the right adductor, and he needed an assessment.
He navigated the third and fourth sets and was behind in the fifth after dropping serve in the first game. He kept up the pressure but didn’t break back until Zverev was serving for the match. He then won the last four games.
“I think physically we just pushed each other to the limit today. We pushed our bodies to the limit,” Alcaraz said. “Just really, really happy to get the win, that I came back. I just rank this one in the top position of one of the best matches that I have ever won.”
Believe
Asked how he was able to recover despite being so close to defeat, Alcaraz admitted he was struggling but said kept “believing, believing, all the time.”
“I’ve been in these situations, I’ve been in these kinds of matches before, so I knew what I had to do,” he said. “I had to put my heart into the match. I think I did it. I fought until the last ball.”
Zverev was demonstrably upset about the time out out in the third set, taking it up with a tournament supervisor, when his rival was given the three-minute break for treatment and a massage on the leg.
After the match, he maintained that he didn’t think it was right, but he didn’t think it should overshadow the match.
“I don’t want to talk about this right now, because I think this is one of the best battles there ever was in Australia,” he said “It doesn’t deserve to be the topic now.”
