Interesting line up at the 2012 Bangkok Open semifinals. The only bad point is that no upcoming player managed to get to the last four as Dimitrov, Tomic and Raonic clashed out in the early stages.
Simon – Monfils 6-4 6-1
It was Simon to win the all French battle in 84 minutes. It was quite an uncharacteristic match with only 2 aces in aggregate and 7 breaks on 17 games. Finally Gilles made it taking also advantage of a “not perfect” Monfils.
“It was difficult to win against him,” said Simon. “I always try everything to win, even if he was not in his best shape. I think it was tough but I played him the right way. My game is fine. It’s difficult to say something about it today because I don’t really play my game with Gael. I’ve known him for a long time, so I know the way I have to play him and I think I will have to play another game tomorrow.”
“I was tired and it was a tough match,” said Monfils. “It’s always difficult to play Gilles; we know each other’s games so well. It was not great for me today. I tried to play a different game against him, trick him a bit. But in the end it didn’t work.”
Tipsarevic – Verdasco 7-6(5), 6-4
This was a 1hour and 50 minutes battle from 2 strong baseliners. It was the Serb to win this match with a more consistent tennis.
“It was a tough match but I was expecting it,” said Tipsarevic. “I played Fernando five times before. It never happened that any one of us won easily; it always had to be a battle. He was really going for the forehand; he made me suffer and run a lot today.”
Nieminem – Raonic 6-3 7-6 (3)
This was the upset of the day. Nieminem defeated the Canadian giant with a very solid tennis without conceding a break point and to win a decisive break in the first set to then win the tiebreak in the second at 3. Raonic blasted 8 aces to struggle a bit with his first serve consistency (only 56% in)
Gasquet – Tomic 7-6 (5) 6-4
The Frenchman defeated another upcoming player. After downing Dimitrov in a harsh 3 set match in the previous round (5-7 7-5 6-4), he won this match in 1 hour and 29 minutes.
THE SEMIFINALS
Simon – Tipsarevic
H2H is 4-1 for Simon. Tipsarevic won the last one in Madrid (blue clay). The Frenchman may have a little edge here because of their tennis chemistry
Nieminem – Gasquet
H2H is 4-2 for Gasquet that is our pick.
