Lucky Gasquet takes on Simon

Second seeded Richard Gasquet and 2009 champion Gilles Simon of France set up an all-French final showdown while Danai Udomchoke and his Taiwanese partner Lu Yen-hsun will vie for their first ATP title together in the doubles final of the US$608,500 ATP Thailand Open at the Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani.

Teaming together for the first time in years, Danai and his Taiwanese buddy upset 2007 champions Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-5) 10-7 in the semi-final and will take on fourth-seeds Eric Butorac of the US and Paul Hanley of Australia.

The die-hard world No 14 Gasquet was on the brink of defeat for the second time this week, trailing crowd favourite Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 3-6 4-5 yesterday, but suddenly turned the whole situation around to win the match 3-6 7-5 6-2 in one hour and 55 minutes. In round two, he was trailing Grigor Dimirov of Bulgaria 5-7 2-5 but also escaped from the jeopardy.

“I tried to fight. I was playing bad. I was frustrated a lot. He didn’t miss and I felt bad. At 0-4 I tried to serve well. I hit some big points. Then he got tense. He served double faults at 5-4. That was the key turning point of the match,” said the Frenchman who miraculously came back to win the second set against the Finn after falling 0-4 and 4-5. Serving for the match, Nieminen, out of the blue, committed two double faults followed by a forehand error, paving the way for Gasquet to level the set at five all before dominating eight of the next 10 games.

 “At 3-6 0-4 I thought I was losing. I thought he was better than me. I was hitting bad. I wasn’t in good shape. But it’s tennis, sometimes it can change,” said the Frenchman, who agreed that luck was on his side this week.  “Yeah, it’s true. I was lucky against Dimitrov. I’m lucky today. It’s good for me to be in the final. In these two matches, I’m a little bit lucky,” said Gasquet, who might need further luck today, losing in the finals twice this year in Toronto and Estoril. What’s more, he has never beaten Simon in their five meetings.

“I need to be fresh. I’m a little bit tired. It’s the final, so I would have to give 100 per cent to win. He will do the same. The better player will win. We are friends. It’s nice to have an all-French final.”

With his signature Wolverine X-Men look gone, the result of shaving on Friday night, Simon played a solid baseline game to upset tournament top seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4 6-4 in the other semi-final.

“I think I couldn’t do any better than that. Janko has been playing amazing tennis since last year. It’s difficult to beat him. He’s hitting hard and not missing a lot. I think I played almost a perfect match. It gives me confidence for the final,” said the 19th ranked Simon, who despite being 0-5 against his fellow compatriot, holds a solid final record of 10-2.

“I have been successful in the finals most of the time. So I hope it’s going to continue. I want to play great tennis like today,” added the former champion, who has been in and out of injuries lately.

“Sometimes it’s difficult with my body to play the way I want to. I’m always happy to play the final because it could be my last one.”

 

Petrova upsets Radwanska

Nadia Petrova wrenched the Pan Pacific Open title from holder Agnieszka Radwanska as the Russian shocked the world No 3 6-0 1-6 6-3 in a topsy-turvy final in Tokyo.

“I feel amazing. This is the biggest tournament I ever won and this is a great accomplishment,” said a jubilant Petrova, ranked 18th in the world.

“At the beginning of the tournament I didn’t expect to be here because I had a back injury, so it’s delightful to be here right now.”

Meanwhile in Kuala Lumpur, second-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina outlasted Kei Nishikori of Japan, 6-2 2-6 7-6 (4) to reach the final of the Malaysian Open. 

The 11th-ranked Monaco will face Julien Benneteau of France, who upset top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 6-4 6-1.