Gilles Simon beats James Blake at Madrid Masters

After losing the first set on the Madrid Masters, Gilles Simon fought back to beat James Blake 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Simon and Blake played Tuesday October 14 in Madrid, Spain. Simon’s win kept Blake as the 11th-ranked American winless in five appearances at the Masters.

James Blake, who had only one break in the match, dropped to 0-5 on Madrid’s high-paced indoor court. Simon saved four break points in the second set and converted two of his own before dominating the final set.

French Open semifinalist Gael Monfils of France also advanced, beating Italian wild card Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-4.

Also, Spanish qualifier Marcel Granollers beat Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4, 6-4, Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany defeated Carlos Moya of Spain 6-2, 6-2, and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland beat Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who plays Ernests Gulbis of Latvia later Tuesday, needs only two victories in Madrid to clinch the very close season-ending No. 1 ranking.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Tennis News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.