A pair of Frenchman will battle for the Thailand Open title on Sunday. Gilles Simon upset top seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4 while Richard Gasquet climbed back from a 3-6, 0-4 deficit to defeat Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to set up the final between countrymen who are also friends.
“It’s nice to be playing such good tennis again,” Simon said. “I never know when I’m going to be feeling fit so I have to take advantage. With my body, it’s not always easy. I can’t always count on being healthy.”
“I thought I was going to lose for sure, Gasquet said. “I was frustrated in the first set and was playing badly,”
“But down 4-0 I was able to start playing better. He got tight when he was serving for it, had a double fault and I was back in the match when I broke him.
“It was a huge challenge for me and I’m glad I came through, but I really thought I wouldn’t make it.”
Gasquet leads Simon 5-0 in their head-to-head record.
“He’s my friend and we know each other’s games well,”
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September 30, 2012
