DUSTIN BROWN AKA “DREDDY” UPSETS GILLES SIMON IN MONTPELLIER TO CONTINUE GERMAN CHARGE IN 2016 BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 4th February 2016

DUSTIN BROWN AKA "DREDDY" UPSETS GILLES SIMON IN MONTPELLIER TO CONTINUE GERMAN CHARGE IN 2016 BY RICKY DIMON |

Ca c’est être dé-ter-mi-né @dreddy_ja ! #tennis #ATP #Montpellier #OSDF16 – Photo by @opensuddefrance via Instagram.

Angelique Kerber’s surprising triumph at the Australian Open appears to have breathed life into her German counterparts on the ATP World Tour. Look no further than the Open Sud de France, where three of the four Germans in the draw are through to the quarterfinals. Alexander Zverev upset No. 2 seed Marin Cilic on Wednesday to reach the last eight, and Dustin Brown joined him there on Thursday by taking out third-seeded Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-4.

One break in each set was enough for Brown because he was untouchable on serve. The 133rd-ranked German fired 10 aces without double-faulting a single time. He put in 65 percent of his first deliveries and won 83 percent of those points. Simon got a look at two break points but could not convert on either occasion.

“Gilles is a great player; I’ve played against him twice before and lost,” Brown commented. “Watching his last matches and knowing how he plays, I wanted to be aggressive with my serve and my return. I tried not to let him play his strengths. I didn’t give him a lot of time.”

“It was a tough match,” Simon admitted. “Dustin played fantastic. He was really confident and he was very successful in everything he was trying. He was really aggressive on serve, with a high percentage, and even on second serve. He put on the pressure from the first point to the last.”

An all-German affair on Friday will pit Zverev against Michael Berrer. They squared off for the firs time last fall in Beijing qualifying, with Berrer advancing 6-4, 6-4. The 35-year-old is known for upsetting Rafael Nadal at the 2015 Doha event. So far in Montpellier he has defeated Borna Coric and Kenny De Schepper in straight sets.

Zverev, who is 17 years younger than his opponent, faced a match point in his opening contest against Luca Vanni but saved it and managed to prevail 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5. Given new life, Zverev scored the biggest win of his career by stunning Cilic 7-6(4), 7-6(1) on Wednesday. Zverev was a semifinalist on the clay courts of Hamburg in 2014 and a quarterfinalist in Washington, D.C. last summer (lost to Cilic), so he knows what it is like to find himself in the latter stages of ATP-level tournaments.

L’allemand @alexzverev123, le joueur le plus jeune du top 100, élimine au deuxième tour de l’Open Sud de France @marincilic #tennis #Montpellier #ATP #OSDF16 crédit photo : JB Autissier – Panoramic – Photo by @opensuddefrance via Instagram.

Adding to German success, the Zverev brothers–Alexander and Mischa–are also into the Montpellier doubles semifinals.

In other singles quarterfinal action, Richard Gasquet and Marcos Baghdatis will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers on Friday. Baghdatis has won all three of their previous meeting without dropping a sset. The Cypriot won 6-4, 7-6(2) in the 2010 Sydney title match, 6-4, 6-4 at the 2012 London Olympics, and 6-4, 6-4 on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam in 2013.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Alexander Zverev, Atp World Tour, Dustin Brown, Gilles Simon, Montpellier, Open Sud de France, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News

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leemeade77 says:

February 4, 2016 at 11:25 am

RT @10sBalls_com: -@DreddyTennis Upsets Simon In #Montpellier To Continue German Charge In 2016 By @Dimonator
https://t.co/Rf63FwzlFR https…