TENNIS Live

Toronto Masters - Quarter final - Men

Nationality Player Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5
FranceG Simon366--
CROM Cilic623--

Gilles Simon

Nationality FRA
Date of Birth 27/12/1984
Height 1.8 m
Weight 65 kg
ATP Ranking 17
Player Info Right-handed

Marin Cilic

Nationality CRO
Date of Birth 28/09/1988
Height 1.95 m
Weight 79 kg
ATP Ranking 24
 

Live Comments

  1. 6-3 - A smash from Simon sees him hold to 30 and he takes the match - he moves into the semi-finals and continues his great form. He just wore down Cilic and will play Nicolas Kiefer or James Blake in the final. Join us for that second semi-final really soon.

  2. 5-3 - Cilic manages to hold to easily but here is Simon serving for the match.

  3. 5-2 - Simon again holds without too much trouble - Cilic can't get into the points when the Frenchman is serving now and he is just one game away.

  4. 4-2 - Cilic manages to come from 0-30 down and saves a break point to keep himself in this match but Simon still looks the better, fresher player.

  5. 4-1 - Very solid service game to 15 for Simon and he doesn't look like he is going to be broken here.

  6. 3-1 - Colic's movement definitely not what it was but he is hanging in there. He needs his big serve to help him save two break points before he finally digs out a hold. Simon looks like he may have just worn the Croat down though.

  7. 3-0 - Simon now with a comfortable hold as he begins to take control of the match.

  8. 2-0 - Cilic starting to look tired. He went 15-40 down and while he got back to deuce he finally gets broken as he goes wide with a backhand. He challenges the play but it was well wide.

  9. 1-0 - Cilic has a job to try and bounce back now. Simon with a hold to 15 which gives him the lead for the first time in the match.

  10. 6-2 - And Simon takes the set with a break as Cilic puts a laboured looking backhand long. Simon went 15-40 up quickly and then took the set on his second break point.

  11. 5-2 - Once again we go to deuce on the Simon serve but once again he manages to hold. Some nice points in that game. A backhand winner from Simon was followed by a great side to side rally that Cilic won after some great defense (showing he can move well for a big man). Cilic's backhand has been a little wild on occasions today though and that got him into trouble at the end of the game. Simon a game away from levelling the match.

  12. 4-2 - Cilic with another big service game that he romps too - he has had two of them in a row now while Simon is scrapping to hold. Still the Frenchman remains a break in front.

  13. 4-1 - Another fiercely competitive game - as most of the games in this set have been - and again Simon gets the edge, saving another break point in the process. After saving the break point Simon then produced a fantastic backhand winner down the line. But when he tried to do the same thing very next point he fired wide and that sort of sums up this match. Bit of good, bit of bad, lots of mediocrity.

  14. 3-1 - Big serving from Cilic sees him hold to love.

  15. 3-0 - Simon wins another marathon game - after saving three break points. Seemed a lot of the time that both players were doing their best to lose it though. Moments of quality from both players but neither can seem to manufacture a sustained period of dominance and it is all just leading to the match plodding along in an unattractive way.

  16. 2-0 - SIMON BREAKS !! A long game - Simon had break point number five in the match - saved. Then number six - saved. But finally on break point seven he takes the game. Much more focused play by Simon now - he is putting the ball into the corners with a controlled level of aggression and forcing Cilic into errors.

  17. 1-0 - Simon has to survive a tough game after he had looked to cruising at 40-15. Cilic just has much more power with his ground strokes and is able to end the points quickly and Simon just doesn't have that x-factor. He is scrapping around a bit to try and stay in this.

  18. 3-6 - A superb cross court backhand winner from Simon gives him a break point. But then two big serves from Cilic brings up a first set point which he wins after setting up the point with a crushing forehand. First blood to the Croat.

  19. 3-5 - And now an easy hold for Simon as servers start to get on top. Cilic now serving for the first set.

  20. 2-5 - Cilic with a nice hold to love - the first of the match - a couple of good winners in that game too - one with the forehand and one with the backhand - he moves one game away from the set.

  21. 2-4 - Simon with a hold to 15 - the playing field has been levelled somewhat but if someone can just click into gear they could run away with this.

  22. 1-4 - Cilic saves three break points before finally holding a long game. He got into trouble twice by making a mess of short forehands that bounced up nicely for him in the middle of the court. Simon had a few chances to win on those break points too but couldn't find the winners when he needed them. It has to be said that the quality of this match has been poor so far. Well at least the sun is shining.

  23. 1-3 - A couple of crushing winners - one with the forehand and one with the backhand sees Cilic build up a 0-40 advantage and three break points. Simon finally clicks into gear though and manages to save all three points before taking the game. Hopefully that can kick him on.

  24. 0-3 - Cilic holds to 30 but to be fair he is winning because he is playing ok - nothing more - he is still producing errors but Simon looks very off colour and is showing none of the form that has served him so well in recent weeks.

  25. 0-2 - Cilic BREAKS !! Very timid stuff from Simon - and Cilic is able to take advantage winning some hardly inspiring baseline rallies. A couple of deuces and Cilic takes it on the second break point. The Croat just has more power than Simon and the Frenchman needs to show a bit of inventiveness and get the big man moving more.

  26. 0-1 - Cilic holds to 30 in the first game. Some nice looking groundstrokes got him into a 40-0 position but then he was wild with two backhands in a row - however he manages to close out the point next game.

  27. 0-0 - So here we go - Cilic serving first...

  28. - - Cilic though will be no push over. Still just a teenager the Croat will move into the top 40 and maybe even higher after his run this week. He has a big serve on him which could cause the more cultured Simon some problems.

  29. - - In-form Simon has to be favourite here - he is in sensational form. Not only did he beat Federer here but he also won the title in Indianapolis last week. He also has a 2-0 head-to-head record over Cilic although this is their first meeting on a hard court.

  30. - - Welcome to the first quarter-final from Toronto as Federer-buster Gilles Simon takes on Roddick-blaster Marin Cilic - what were the odds on this quarter-final at the start of the week?

ATP Race 2008

Points
1 Rafael Nadal 1265 stay
2 Roger Federer 921 stay
3 Novak Djokovic 899 stay
4 Andrew Murray 520 stay
5 Nikolay Davydenko 417 stay
6 Andy Roddick 354 up
7 David Ferrer 337 down
8 James Blake 309 stay
9 Juan Marin Del Potro 307 stay
10 Stanislas Wawrinka 286 stay

Full Table »