Gilles Simon sprung off his feet in splattering a clean backhand pass that looked like a yellow splotch dabbing the red clay. The shot spun Mardy Fish’s head around as abruptly as if he’d been spit out of a revolving door at high speed. Alternating patient play with precise shotmaking, Simon showed the last American singles player in Paris the door, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the fourth round of Roland Garros for the first time in six appearances.
The 18th-seed from Nice joins fellow Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils in the last 16. The slender Simon is listed at 155 pounds; his adidas clothes hangs off his body like king-sized sheets, leaving his arms and legs looking a little like Pinnochio’s pipe-cleaner thin limbs. The former world No. 6 does not possess the eye-popping athleticism of Monfils, the all-court artistry of Gasquet or the imposing physical presence of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but Simon competes with tenacity, can create sting on his shots without significantly steepening his swing and has the shrewd court sense of a chess player, always plotting two moves ahead of his opponent.
The 10th-seeded Fish, who reached the third round of the French for the first time, knows Simon’s skill in creating offensive shots from defensive positions. Simon is often at his best darting in the corners to dig out sharp-angled crosscourt shots, or drive the ball down the line.
In an effort to minimize available angles, Fish began by playing down the middle, trying to force the quick-footed counter-puncher to generate his own pace. Through six games he was even until Simon struck with a running forehand pass. Attacking on a serve-and-volley, Fish blocked a backhand volley into the corner, but Simon capped a sideline-to-sideline sprint lifting a cross-court forehand pass. The shot of the set gave Simon the break and a 5-3 lead, part of a seven-game surge that saw Simon turn a 3-3 deadlock into a 6-3, 4-0 advantage.
Fish never recovered. Since shedding nearly 30 pounds prior to the 2010 season, the streamlined American has won two titles, reached his career-high ranking and is the only U.S. man ranked inside the Top 10. Fish’s fitness has been a foundation of his success, yet now he’s sometimes content to play precautionary tennis rather than making use of his all-court skills.
Fish played it safe in trying to grind out longer rallies for too long with the unerring Simon, who prodded the American into leaking a 20th forehand error to help him open the second set with a break. But the truth is, Simon was so sharp that even if Fish had gone into attack mode earlier, it may not have mattered much.
Simon moves on to a fourth-round match with either two-time defending French Open finalist Robin Soderling or Leonardo Mayer. The fifth-seeded Swede has won four of six meetings with Simon, including a 6-4, 6-0 thrashing at the Paris Indoors last fall, but they have never faced off on clay.
—Richard Pagliaro