Gilles Simon beats Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4, 6-2!
A couple of scratchy points from Simon make it 30-all, but it’s only delaying the inevitable. He earns a match point with a forehand into the left corner. A forehand into the opposite corner seals the deal. “Allez!” he cries. He’s through to the third round, where he will play Richard Gasquet or Milos Raonic. Thanks for reading. Bye.
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Second set: Simon 6-4, 5-2 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): “Ohhhhh dear!” says Kokkinakis after double-faulting at 15-30. Simon has two break points. He takes it brilliantly. Kokkinakis rips a forehand into the left corner but Kokkinakis scampers forward and at full stretch, stooping down low to reach the ball, beats him with a screamer of a backhand pass down the line. Simon will serve for the match.
Second set: Simon* 6-4, 4-2 Kokkinakis (*denotes server): Simon consolidates the break, holding to 30. He was down 15-30 at one point but Kokkinakis has been blighted by inconsistency. Simon’s defensive qualities are infuriating Kokkinakis.
Second set: Simon 6-4, 3-2 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): Sirens are whirring as Simon skips into a 0-30 lead, Kokkinakis struggling to deal with the Frenchman’s controlled aggression. Kokkinakis digs deep and wins the next two points, but Simon carves out a break point with a superb, looping backhand down the line that wrongfoots his young foe. An ace keeps Simon at bay, however, but Kokkinakis is unpredictable, a double-fault handing the Frenchman another break point. There’s no ace this time. Simon comes up with a fine cross-court backhand and although Kokkinakis gets his volley back into play, he has no answer to a whipped forehand down the line.
Second set: Simon* 6-4, 2-2 Kokkinakis (*denotes server): The BBC commentator is talking about One Direction. Maybe they should replace The Foo Fighters at Glastonbury. You’d all like that, wouldn’t you? Right? Guys? Hello? Guys? Fine, back to the tennis. Simon clambers into a 40-0 lead here, only to drop the next three points, two consecutive double-faults derailing him. He looks to the heavens, aghast at his behaviour, furious with himself for allowing the game to go to deuce. A brilliant rally ensues, Kokkinakis attacking, Simon defending. Kokkinakis slams a backhand down the line; Simon stops the point, eyeing the mark, certain it was out. Was there a call? The umpire thinks there was a call, then a correction, and asks Simon if he wants to challenge. He does. And it was out. What a palaver. Simon is having trouble finishing this game off, however, and Kokkinakis is growing in confidence again, earning a break point with a stonking forehand. It’s not to be, though; he nets a forehand and eventually Simon holds. Kokkinakis will have to shake off that disappointment quickly.
Second set: Simon 6-4, 1-2 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): Kokkinakis helps himself to an easy hold. He looks more settled on serve now.
Second set: Simon* 6-4, 1-1 Kokkinakis (*denotes server): A slice of luck for Kokkinakis on the first point, a backhand pass down the line clipping the top of the net and flicking past Simon, who was poised to win the rally with a volley. He had no chance of dealing with that. But soon Kokkinakis is tossing his racquet up into the air in frustration after lazily drifting a slice long at 15-all. Simon races away with the game.
Second set: Simon 6-4, 0-1 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): Of course, all is not lost for Kokkinakis. He lost the first set against another Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, in the first round of Monday and he fought back and he’s shown bouncebackability on other occasions in the past. There’s a glimpse of that in microcosm in this game. He starts it with a double-fault, he ends it with an ace.
Gilles Simon wins the first set 6-4!
Kokkinakis requires something special if he is to deny Simon here, but he begins the game by ballooning a forehand return into orbit. That wasn’t the start he was after. Simon then crunches an ace into the corner to make it 30-0, before earning three set points by pouncing on a short return from Kokkinakis and creaming a forehand into the right corner. Kokkinakis is done with this set. He nets a forehand and the set is Simon’s.
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First set: Simon 5-4 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): Simon misses a return on the first point; he makes up for it on the next, a peach of a backhand too hot for Kokkinakis to handle. 15-all. The next two points are shared as well. Kokkinakis needs his serve to fire here. It does, Simon wafting a return long to make it 40-30, Kokkinakis rattling an ace past the Frenchman to decide the game.
First set: Simon* 5-3 Kokkinakis (*denotes server): If you’re looking for drama, you will not find any stored within this game. Simon polishes off a rapid hold to love with an ace and Kokkinakis will serve to stay in the first set.
First set: Simon 4-3 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): Simon opens by treating the crowd to some Gallic flair, an insouciant little dink over the net that leaves Kokkinakis stranded at the back of the court. That’s a spirit-sapping point for Kokkinakis, yet he grits his teeth and impressively wins the next three points, his serve beginning to rumble again. Simon forces the game to deuce but Kokkinakis isn’t letting go of this game and keeps himself in contention.
First set: Simon* 4-2 Kokkinakis (*denotes server): The unforced errors are piling up for Kokkinakis. Perhaps Simon is feeling sorry for him when he double-faults at 30-0. Both players are struggling to maintain their focus when they appear to be on top and Simon lets Kokkinakis back into the game by playing the next point far too casually, strolling around the court as if he’s having a walk on the beach, looking wistfully down at his racquet and thinking that it would be nice if a cocktail was there instead. There are no more donations, though, from Simon, who ends up holding with a degree of comfort, having threatened to make a meal of that game.
First set: Simon 3-2 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): At 15-all, Kokkinakis seems to have played the point perfectly, crashing a forehand into the left corner, Simon scrambling off in pursuit of it. But the Frenchman is a grafter. He hangs a ball in the air, making Kokkinakis play one more shot, and the resulting slice whizzes wide. Kokkinakis needs to be careful here. He’s making a few too many errors and Simon is getting on top. The game goes to deuce and Kokkinakis gifts Simon a break point by dragging an awful forehand wide. He was totally off-balance there. The ball was there to be hit and he seemed to lose the flight of it. He ended up in a right old tangle. And he’s in even more of a mess when he double-faults. He challenges the call but more in hope than in expectation. That’s three straight games for Simon, who has made a fine recovery after a bad start.
First set: Simon* 2-2 Kokkinakis (*denotes server): Simon wins the first two points, before Kokkinakis pounces on a short ball and cracks a forehand into the corner. Otherwise, though, his forehand flickers on and off in this game and Simon holds to 15.
First set: Simon 1-2 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): Kokkinakis’s level drops. He sticks three shots into the net to give Simon two break points. He saves the first with a punchy serve-forehand one-two but Simon comes out on top in the next point, a lengthy rally that ends him with slashing a backhand from left to right, Kokkinakis caught out of position. That lead didn’t last long.
First set: Simon* 0-2 Kokkinakis (*denotes server): Kokkinakis looks calm and collected out there, winning the first point of this game with by chopping a backhand slice over the net, the ball dying a death as it lands on the grass. At 0-30, he drills a backhand down the line to earn three break points. Simon hasn’t won a point yet. He could do with one now. He doesn’t get on. He’s floundering. Kokkinakis dictates the rally effortlessly and breaks thanks to a cross-court forehand.
First set: Simon 0-1 Kokkinakis* (*denotes server): And ... play! These two have never met before, so the early exchanges might be quite cagey - a sentence that is being written just as Kokkinakis blasts down an ace on the first point. It sets him up for a comfortable hold to love. The youngster has started confidently.
The BBC camera has just picked out Jeremy Clarkson in the crowd. Are you ready? Are you ready?
Are you ready?
I hope they’re serving STEAK at Queen’s today.
The toss has been tossed. Gilles Simon has elected to receive first.
Preamble
Hello. Two Aussies are down, one remains. Leyton Hewitt was outlasted by Kevin Anderson in his final appearance at Queen’s on Monday and Nick Kyrgios was erratic and outclassed by Stan Wawrinka yesterday, so it’s left to Thanasi Kokkinakis to carry the flame. Plenty of good judges rate the youngster highly and after encouraging performances at the French Open and Australian Open, he has every reason to be confident about his prospects on the London grass over the next few weeks.
This is a new experience for him, though, and standing in his way is the experienced Gilles Simon, a Frenchman who has not really lived up to his early promise. Simon was once as high as No6 in the world and he has always been in and around the top 15 or 20, but his best performance at a grand slam remains reaching the last eight of the Australian Open in 2009. It’s not quite happened for him at the highest level, although I suppose the millions he’s made and will continue to make from tennis serve as a hefty consolation prize in the absence of any major honours. But Simon is 30 now and unless he suddenly has a Wawrinka-esque epiphany in the next few months, the ship may well have sailed for him. Attention is turning to the new generation.
Play begins at: 12.30pm BST.
