Simon, Gasquet Set Up All-French Final in Bangkok

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Simon, Gasquet Set Up All-French Final in Bangkok

By Chris Oddo

(September 29, 2012) -- One day after notching his 50th victory of the season, Janko Tipsarevic met his match on the hard courts in Bangkok, Thailand. Playing World No. 19 Gilles Simon on a hard court has always been an unenviable task for Tipsarevic. Coming into Saturday’s Thailand Open semifinal the World No. 9 had lost all three of his hard court encounters with the human backboard also known as Simon, and on Saturday the expected happened once again.

Simon saved the only break point he faced against the top seed, and converted on two of ten of his own to get by Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and forty-five minutes.

"Janko has been playing amazing tennis since last year," said a relieved-to-be-through Simon. "I think I played the perfect match."

Simon's victory sets up an all-French clash with Richard Gasquet.

Gasquet, World No. 14, nabbed a come-from-behind victory over Jarkko Nieminen on Saturday, breaking the Fin twice in the decider to escape with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 triumph.

It was a struggle from the early going for Gasquet, as Nieminen led 6-3, 5-4, 30-30, but was ruled to have foot-faulted on his second serve on that pivotal point.

“I was playing badly and was frustrated after the first set,” said Gasquet. “He wasn’t missing... He double-faulted at 5-4, which was the key of the match, and in the third set I played better.”

Gasquet has a 6-10 record in ATP finals, while Simon boasts a 10-2 record in title matches.

More important perhaps, is the fact that Gasquet owns a 5-0 career record against Simon.

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THAILAND OPEN

Bangkok Thailand

September 24-30, 2012

$551,000/ATP World Tour 250

Surface: Hard

Tournament Website: Thailand Open | Live Scores | Draws

RESULTS -- SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

Singles - Semi-finals

[4] G Simon (FRA) d [1] J Tipsarevic (SRB) 64 64

[2] R Gasquet (FRA) d [7] J Nieminen (FIN) 36 75 62

Doubles - Semi-final

[WC] Y Lu (TPE) / D Udomchoke (THA) d [WC] S Ratiwatana (THA) / S Ratiwatana (THA) 67(3) 76(5) 10-7

SCHEDULE -- SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

CENTER COURT start 1:00 pm

[4] E Butorac (USA) / P Hanley (AUS) vs [WC] Y Lu (TPE) / D Udomchoke (THA)