French second seed Simon captures Indianapolis tennis title
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AFP) — Gilles Simon took a huge step toward his goal of a top 15 world ranking Sunday as he captured his second ATP title in three months with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Dmitry Tursunov.
The Frenchman made a tough weekend stand, saving 17 straight break points over three sets of tennis to emerge with his fourth career ATP title at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.
Seeded second, he claimed the crown on Sunday at the expense of the third-seed and defending champion from Russia.
"My goal at the start of the season was to reach top 15," said the 25th-ranked Simon. "I started the year at 30th.
"But with my ranking, I need to do better at Masters Series events and Grand Slam if I'm to improve," the 23-year-old added.
"My best so far is two third rounds at the Australian Open and one at the US Open. That's not enough."
Simon's trophy was the first here for a Frenchman, surpassing the 1993 effort of Olivier Delaitre, who reached the final but lost to South African Wayne Ferreira.
California-based Russian Tursunov failed in his bid to become only the third man in the last 30 years here to defend a title after Pete Sampras (1991, 1992) and Andy Roddick (2003, 2004).
Simon had a sparkling debut week in the US Midwest, improving on his previous best US tournament effort of reaching the quarter-finals at New Haven last year.
He added the Indy title to the trophy he claimed in Casablanca on clay in May.
His 15th hardcourt match win boosted his 2008 record to 26-16.
Tursunov was frustrated throughout as Simon continued his remarkable run of break point saves, which reached 17 straight over his last two matches.
"I can get the jitters, and when that happens my game does not function well," said Tursunov, who was broken twice and who committed 20 of his 32 unforced errors in the opening set.
"I have to go for my shots, and that gives me little margin for error. I didn't stay in the points for long enough today.
"If I had, he might have started making some more errors. But this is all about getting matches under your belt, preparing for the US Open."
Simon will open against a qualifier in next week's Toronto Masters, with the winner earning a clash with Roger Federer in the second round.
