By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, October 23, 2015
Jack Sock saved 13 of 16 break points fighting past third-seeded Gilles Simon, 7-5, 7-6 (5), to reach the Stockholm semifinals.
Photo credit: If Stockholm Open
Jack Sock displayed a scorching forehand and stubborn will to surge into his third semifinal of the season in Stockholm.
Sock saved 13 of 16 break points and fought back from a double break down in the second set for a 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory over Gilles Simon.
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It is Sock's first semifinal since he lost to Ivo Karlovic on grass in the Newport final four in July and the second hard-court semifinal of his career. Sock and partner Nicholas Monroe are through to the doubles semifinals as well. The second-seeded Americans will play compatriots Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky in the doubles semifinals.
The seventh-seeded Sock will face another Frenchman—second-seeded Richard Gasquet—for a spot in Sunday's singles final. Sock outdueled Gasquet, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-4, on hard court in Washington, DC in August.
"He's having a very good year as well," Sock said in a Tennis Channel interview with James Blake afterward. "He makes a lot of balls (and he's) very crafty from the back. I have to be very aggressive and try to dictate play as much as I can. Hopefully I can serve well and have the forehand lined up again."
In an all-French quarterfinal, Gasquet edged sixth-seeded Jeremy Chardy, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), scoring his sixth straight win against a countryman. Since the 2010 US Open, Gasquet has posted a 21-6 record against French opposition.
The No. 2-seeded Simon won his lone prior encounter with Sock on the red clay of Rome earlier this season. Simon used his counter-punching skills to threaten Sock's serve in the opening game of today's rematch.
Sock saved three break points in the opener. Unleashing a surprise serve-and-volley, Sock scraped out a backhand volley then guessed right on the ensuing pass, blocking a forehand volley winner down the line to scrape through a seven-minute hold.
Showing accuracy on return, Simon continued to pressure the American's serve.
Facing a fourth break point at 3-all, Sock handcuffed Simon with a biting second serve. Sock used both force— an ace and serve winner—and finesse—a slick drop shot—to fend off three more break points. By the time the American thumped an overhead winner for 5-4, he'd saved seven break points.
Those squandered opportunities caught up to the slender Frenchman, who had cruised through his service games until the 12th game. Steering his most reliable shot, a crosscourt backhand, wide to face double-set point, Simon tried to change direction with a backhand down the line. But he badly missed the mark. Sock converted his first break point of the set to snatch the 54-minute opener despite winning just seven of 19 second-serve points.
Simon shrugged off the frustration of his first-set lapse, draining errors to break in the opening game of the second set.
Jabbing at the American's weaker backhand wing, Simon was surprised by a Sock backhand up the line on break point. His response missed the mark, Simon wound up as if prepared to splatter his Head racquet off the blue back wall. Instead he tossed it aside after donating the break back for 2-all.
Simon's two-handed backhand is a versatile and accurate stroke. While Sock can struggle to create sharp angles crosscourt from his two-hander. Simon slapped a backhand return down the line, followed it forward and crunched a forehand swing volley winner snatching a 3-2 lead with the third straight break of the set.
The world No. 15 stretched the lead and served for set at 5-4, but Sock broke again behind a barrage of forehands.
In the tie break, Sock slashed a forehand for a 5-3 lead. Simon struck a listless forehand into net facing triple match point at 6-3. Simon showed his nerves catching his toss three times before fending off a match point when Sock netted a mid-court forehand.
Surging forward, Sock was in prime position for a high backhand volley, but knocked it into the net as Simon saved a second match point on serve.
On his third match point and first on his own serve, Sock slammed a forehand that barely nicked the back edge of the baseline. Simon challenged, but Hawk-Eye replay showed the ball grazed the line to seal a two-hour victory.