Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer will steal the headlines on Saturday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, but don’t sleep on the other semifinal. This one between Feliciano Lopez and Gilles Simon should be similarly entertaining.
Lopez cannot be considered a specialist on one specific surface at one specific tournament, but Shanghai is unquestionably his best. The 33-year-old Spaniard has now reached four Masters 1000 semifinals in his career and a whopping three have come at this tournament. Lopez’s latest run has come courtesy of wins over Thanasi Kokkinakis, Rafael Nadal, John Isner, and Mikhail Youzhny. The world No. 21 will reach a career-high ranking of no worse than 14th on Monday.
Up next for Lopez is Simon, against whom he is 2-1 lifetime. Their only two meetings since 2008 came in a four-day span last summer, when Lopez prevailed 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 6-0 in the Eastbourne final and 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(11) in the first round of the very next tournament at Wimbledon. A suddenly-resurgent Simon reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open, made it to the Tokyo semifinals last week, and earned a spot in the Shanghai semis by taking out Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Stan Wawrinka, Malek Jaziri, and Tomas Berdych. The 29th-ranked Frenchman appears to be on a serious roll after dominating his third set against Berdych 6-0 on Friday.
“I feel my tennis is coming back,” Simon explained after toppling the Czech. “I’m finding a better rhythm. I feel also physically stronger. Tomas is a great player. He’s always hard to beat. I think I almost played the perfect match today. It was really tight for two sets. I’m just happy that I won the fight.”
This surface suits Simon better than grass and he will eventually break his opponent down from the baseline if Lopez does not serve far better than the 53 percent he turned in versus Youzhny.
Pick: Simon in 3
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who u got and in how many?
Have either of these guys been to a Masters final? I’m guessing no.
Simon has at this same event (when it was Madrid) back in 2008
Going with Feli then.
Reblogged this on Tennis Abides.
Lopez carrying a back injury. Struggling mightily against Simon.
Lopez made a valiant effort in the 2nd set but Simon was on a roll.
If he meets Federer in the final it’s not beyond the realms of possibility he could upset the maestro. No way he can break Djokovic’s run of wins in China.
Allez Gillou.