Gilled was a dog

The finale of Masters in Madrid was played by Gilles Simon and Andy Murray, the penultimate of the series of the Masters series, opened a new name. The Frenchman Gilles Simon, having beaten the first racket of the world of Rafael Nadal in a dizzying three-hour semifinal, entered the top ten for the first time in his career, became one of the applicants for the not-played trips to the Asia Minor World Cup (association of tennis players-professionals).

Last year, a 23-year-old native of Nice was entrenched in the first fifty dollars, won two middle-term tournaments (in Marseille and Bucharest), and by the end of the season he reached the first thirty, but was still considered a good career as a good strong professional. Until the summer of this year, Simon’s career developed at the same pace, he again “hooked” a couple of modest titles, in Casablanca and Indianapolis, settled near the 25--30th classification numbers-nothing supernatural. The turning point, presumably, was the victory in the second round of Masters in Canada over Federer himself, forcing her to believe in his strength. After it, he first reached the four best at the highest rank tournament (having beaten Federer, Simon went in Toronto two more circles and lost to Nicholas Kifer in the semifinals), which allowed him to enter the first twenty. Then there were quite worthy performances in Beijing at the Olympic tournament and at US Open, a repetition of last year’s success on the ground in Bucharest, and, finally, the current blitzkrieg in Madrid.

In the debut, nothing foreshadowed the take -off of the Frenchman. He, in a good way, was supposed to give in to Russian Igor Andreev already in the first match, but, having played three matchballs, he prevailed at the Tai-Brake of the decisive set. Here Simon first showed his tenacious character, nigging and cherishing which he passed through the entire Madrid distance. The second round is three sets with the ninth racket of the world James Blake (by the way, it is Blake that the Frenchman will now replace the main contender for the destruction of the existing rating eight). The third duel is again with an American, Robbie Gineprin, again three sets with a tie -break in a decisive one. Then, two of the tie-break won again in the same three-season battle-in the 208-centimeter Ivo Karlovich. Finally, the battle with Nadal, 3 hours 23 minutes, three parties, of course, a tie -break in the last set, and the score of this final game is 8: 6. With all the exploits, Simon did not show a particularly bright game, but he did everything cleanly, practically not making unreasonable mistakes and, most importantly, gnawing, like a dog, in every opponent, every chance, in every draw.

In the final match, Simon met with British Andy Murray, who defeated Federer on the eve of a beautiful struggle. The finale came out almost as stubborn as previous games with the participation of housing. Again there was a tie-break, but the stubborn, but the exhausted Frenchman could not get to the third set. The Scot won the second title of Master's level in the season, repeating his August success in Cincinnati.

At the women's tournament in Zurich, the 38th title in his career was won by the five-time champion of Wimbledon Vinus Williams, for whom, as it are paradoxical, acceleration at the finish of the season has about the same meaning as for little-known Simon’s housing. Before the Swiss tournament, the American occupied only ninth place in the WTA championship race (Women's Tennis Association), despite the next success on the London grass. The fact is that Vinus played only 13 tournaments over the year, and won to Zurich only at one - in fact, in Wimbledon. However, now the elder sister Williams is all right - she returned to the eight, and, given that Maria Sharapova, most likely, will not go to the court until the end of the season, the place of the American among the participants of the final tournament of the year can be considered already reserved.

Tournament of the Masters series, Madrid
Prize fund 2.27 million euros

1/8 finals

R. Nadal (SPP, 1) - R. GASKA (Fra, 15) - 6: 4, 6: 2
R. Federer (SHVC, 2) - J.-V. Tsonga (Fra, 16) - 6: 4, 6: 1
I. Karlovich (choir, 14) - N. Dzhokovic (Ser, 3) - 7: 6, 7: 6

1/4 finals

Nadal - F. Lopez (SPP) - 6: 4, 6: 4
J. Simon (Fra) - Karlovich - 7: 6, 4: 6, 7: 6
E. Murray (VLB, 4) - Monfis (Fra) - 6: 2, 6: 2
Federer - H.M. Del Potro (Arg, 9) - 6: 3, 6: 3

1/2 finals

Simon - Nadal - 3: 6, 7: 5, 7: 6
Murray - Federer - 3: 6, 6: 3, 7: 5

Final

Murray - Simon - 6: 4, 7: 6

Category II Tournament, Zurich
Prize fund $ 600 thousand

1/8 finals

K. Srebotnik (La) - A. Radvansk (Paul, 5) - 2: 6, 7: 6, 6: 3
A. Medina -Garriges (SPP) - V. Zvonareva (Ros, 4) - 6: 3, 3: 0, Refusal
A. Ivanovich (Ser, 2) - M. Bartoli (Fra) - 6: 2, 6: 4

1/4 finals

F. Pennetta (Ita) - Srebotnik - 7: 5, 6: 2
Medina -harrijes - V. Azarenko - 4: 6, 6: 3, refusal
V. Williams (USA, 3) - Schyavone - 6: 3, 6: 3
Ivanovich - P. Kvitova (Czech) - 6: 1, 6: 4

1/2 finals

Pennetta - Medina -harrijes - 6: 3, 7: 6
Williams - Ivanovich - 4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4

Final

Williams - Pennetta - 7: 6, 6: 3 10/19/2008 / Alexander Shmornov, the material was published in the newspaper No. 199 dated 10/20/2008.