By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, October 31, 2022
In his farewell tournament, French wild card Gilles Simon won 10 of the last 13 games topping Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to extend his career in Paris.
Photo credit: Getty
The hands on the court-side clock crept toward 11 p.m.
Gilles Simon was too busy turning back time to notice.
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Contesting his 18th straight—and final—Rolex Paris Masters, the 37-year-old Frenchman was four points from the end of his career as Andy Murray served for the match at 6-4, 5-3.
Simon was in no mood for parting shots.
A stubborn Simon streaked through 10 straight points sparking an inspired 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Murray to extend his career before an exuberant home crowd chanting "Gilou! Gilou!" to celebrate this unlikely comeback.
"The match, as a whole, was very tough at different levels, at different moments," Simon said. "So I'm so happy to have won it, because it started off very badly, and I felt that he decreased his level to finish the set.
"So I was able to push forward at that moment and I was able to win. Usually it's the other way around when I play him. So I'm happy to be the winner for once."
It was Simon's first win over Murray in more than seven years. And it sends the French wild card into a second-round clash against ninth-seeded American Taylor Fritz.
Earlier, Fritz kept his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin alive, breaking five times in a 7-5, 6-2 win over Monte-Carlo finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
It was Fritz's first main-draw win over the 32nd-ranked Spaniard in three meetings. Davidovich Fokina fell to 0-6 indoors in 2022.
Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler equaled the biggest win of his career, surprising 12th-ranked Italian Jannik Sinner 6-2, 6-3 in 68 minutes.
The left-handed Huesler won 12 of 17 second-serve points and saved all three break points he faced, setting up a second-round meeting against Karen Khachanov.
Twenty-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti hit seven aces and did not drop serve in a tidy 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 15-seeded Marin Cilic. Next up for the 23rd-ranked Musetti is a second-round meeting with Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Former world No. 1 Murray had dominated Simon almost as severely as the Harlem Globetrotters handled the Washington Generals. Murray had won 16 of 18 career meetings against the slender Frenchman and was in prime position for another straight-sets sweep when he broke for a 5-3 second-set lead.
That was the last game Murray won in the second set.
Urged on by French fans chanting his name and occasionally giving the Briton the business, Simon streaked through 10 points in a row and four straight games snatching the second set.
Growing increasingly annoyed by the crowd noise, Murray turned and appealed to chair umpire Fergus Murphy for a reprieve at one point. Though fans were certainly vocal, they were nowhere near as partisan as Davis Cup crowds Murray has played before in the past.
Still, the sound of support and the sight of jittery Murray spurred Simon on in the final set.
Simon saved a break point in his opening service game then broke at love as he burst out to a 3-1 lead in the decider. Playing no-pace shots down the middle mixed with flat drives down the line, Simon gave the two-time Olympic gold-medal champion every opportunity to miss and Murray was complying with more frequency as the set wore on.
The pro-Simon crowd included Hall of Famer Amelie Mauresmo, Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Mahut. Gasquet, who has known Simon since the age of 10, says the slender counter-puncher's precise strikes and willingness to go the distance made the former world No. 6 a dangerous player.
"He outplayed everyone because his tactic was different. He was very tough to play," Gasquet said of Simon. "His physical shape was great. He was making no mistake.
"He would leverage the strength of the opponent. His forehand, his backhand, he made no mistakes. He was No. 6 worldwide. He would actually end up at the finals of Masters 1000s, he won titles. He was a very good player. When he was young he didn't have the same assets at 13, 14 years old, but afterwards, he proved well and it was very difficult to outpace him."
Haunted by the pro Simon crowd and voices of self doubt roaming his head, Murray spit up two double faults to fall to love-30 then steered his signature shot—the two-handed backhand—wide as Simon earned double match point.
A rattled Murray threw in his third double fault of the game ending his Paris run and extending Simon's career for another match.
"I'll try to recover well tomorrow to manage my day and to manage the time I have until the next match to play the best match possible," Simon said. "I have a lot of mixed feelings that are contradictory. Of course I want to win, but part of me is impatient to stop, because it's very hard. So I try and not to think too much about it. I just say I'm going to play like I have always done. I have a match in two days. I'm in this state of mind. I have 48 hours to recover, to do my best. When I'm focused on that, it enables me to forget all the rest."