Gilles Simon of France celebrates after defeating Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in their semifinal match of the Thailand Open tennis tournament in Bangkok, Thailand Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012. Simon beat Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
September 29, 2012 - 9:25 AM
BANGKOK - Gilles Simon upset top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4 Saturday to set up an all-French final against Richard Gasquet at the Thailand Open.
Gasquet rallied from a set and two breaks down to beat Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 after the Finn failed to serve out the match when leading 5-4 in the second set.
The fourth-seeded Simon won the title here in 2009 and improved his head-to-head record against Tipsarevic to 5-1. He broke the Serb in his first service game and then saved a break point in the 10th game before clinching the set when Tipsarevic netted a forehand.
The Frenchman then broke for a 5-4 lead in the second after winning a Hawk-Eye challenge on his fourth break point, as the replay system showed his forehand winner clipped the line.
"I think I couldn't do any better than that," Simon said. "Janko has been playing amazing tennis since last year. It's difficult to beat him."
Gasquet made a slew of errors to fall behind 4-0 in the second set against Nieminen before starting his fightback. When serving for the match, the Finn hit two straight double faults and a forehand error then allowed Gasquet to level the set at 5-5.
The Frenchman dominated after that, breaking twice more in the decider and clinching the win when Nieminen's backhand sailed wide.
"At 3-6, 0-4 I thought I was losing," Gasquet said. "I thought he was better than me. I was hitting bad. Not in a good shape. But it's tennis, sometimes it can change."
News from © The Associated Press, 2012