Simon into quarterfinals after Monfils injures
Tennis newsGilles Simon advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals Monday when fellow Frenchman and longtime friend Gael Monfils retired after three sets.
Sixth-seeded Simon was leading 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 when No. 12 Monfils withdrew with what appeared to be an injured right hand or arm.
Monfils, a semifinalist at the French Open last year, had treatment in the previous set and, after going to the baseline after the change of ends, walked to the net and told Simon he could not continue.
The pair hugged at the net and kissed each other’s cheek. Despite being close in age – Simon is 24, Monfils is 22 – it was their first match at tour level.
“It’s very hard, because we’re very close,” Simon said in an on-court interview. “I didn’t want to win like this. Sorry everybody, that’s not the way you want to win.”
Simon, into the second week of a major for the first time, next plays top-ranked Rafael Nadal or 2007 Australian Open runner-up Fernando Gonzalez.
“The last time against Rafa it was good for me,” he said of his October win over Nadal in the Madrid semifinals. But, “he beat me here in three sets last year.
“If it’s him, it’s going to be hard. If it’s Fernando, it’s going to be the same.”
In the opening women’s match, Carla Suarez Navarro is into the quarterfinals in her first trip to the Australian Open.
Suarez Navarro, who had an upset win over seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams in the second round, had a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 21 Anabel Medina Garrigues in an all-Spanish match.
She next plays Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva, who made the quarterfinals for the first time in 11 years at Melbourne Park.
Saurez Navarro went through qualifying at the French Open last year and made the quarterfinals on debut in a Grand Slam.
The fourth-seeded Dementieva had 6-2, 6-2 win over Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova to extend her winning streak to 14 matches. She won two titles in tuneup events.
A finalist at the French and U.S. Opens in 2004, Dementieva has never been back to a championship match. She was ousted in the quarterfinals at the French last year and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
Second-seeded Serena Williams, seeking a 10th Grand Slam singles title, was to play No. 13 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on Rod Laver Arena.
The top eight seeds in the men’s draw made it to fourth round here for the first time since 1970.
No. 1 Rafael Nadal, No. 4 Andy Murray and No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were in action later Monday. If the top eight reach the quarters, it will be a first in a Grand Slam in the Open era.
The women’s draw is quickly diminishing, with 2004 U.S. Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova the only other major winner besides Williams remaining in the draw.
Monday, January 26th, 2009 at 10:25 pm and is filed under Tennis news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
