Gilles Simon has finished his almost three years of stagnation and won the hard court event in Pune/India. The 33-year-old Frenchman defeated Kevin Anderson in the final.
Even 15 aces were not enough for the US open-ended final from South Africa. In the end Simon won in 1:37 hours 7:6 (7:4), 6:2 against Anderson and won a prize money of 89,435 dollars. The world rankings 89. In a duel with the 2.03 metre tall Anderson, he fought off four of five break points and celebrated his first tournament success since February 2015, when he had triumphed in Marseille.
“It’s the first time I’ve been able to beat Kevin. I don’t know how I did it, though. But I’m really happy that I succeeded,”said Simon, who is on his way to his 13th birthday. individual titles on the ATP Tour that had eliminated three top seeded players.
Prior to Anderson (No. 2) Simon had defeated former Flushing-Meadows winner Marin Cilic (Croatia/No. 1) in the semi-finals and in the round of the last 16 the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (No. 3). The Frenchman, once number six in the world, had not been able to finish last season in the top 50 for the first time in twelve years.