Press Release
For immediate release
Wednesday June 24th 2015
SIMON HEADLINES QUARTER-FINALS AT AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM
Quarter-final day at the Aegon Open Nottingham will see world No.13 and top remaining seed Gilles Simon tussle with the big-serving American Sam Querrey after they both came through their matches on Wednesday.
Simon eased past Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-4, 6-1 while Querrey took down fifth-seed Pablo Cuevas in two tie-breaks. However, Spanish World No. 16 Feliciano Lopez, seeded third, lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 to a sensational performance from Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei who goes on to face the tricky Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Joining them on Centre Court will be Italian World No. 56 Simone Bolelli and Marcos Baghdatis, who brushed aside teenage wildcard Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-3, before Denis Istomin takes on Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, who outlasted Jiri Vesely in two tiebreaks 7-6(2), 7-6(5). Both Frenchman Simon and World No. 45 Sousa finished their gruelling three-set second round matches late on Tuesday evening, but it was Simon who held all of his service games to win 6-4, 6-1 in just over an hour to reach the last eight.
“I was really confident in the second set,” Simon, 30, said. “I was playing better and better as the match went on. It was a very good match for me. I didn’t waste any energy, I just played how I had to play, which was really good. My tennis is in great shape and physically I’m good. I have a tough opponent in the next match. I’ve handled him pretty well every time we’ve played each other but it’s always really hard because Sam has a huge forehand.” And 12th seed Querrey is wary of the threat that the second seed poses when they play third on Centre Court. The American said: “He’s tough on any surface and I’m going to have my hands full with that one. To be in the quarter-finals, I’m feeling good and hoping to come out here tomorrow playing better than today and yesterday.”
Meanwhile two-time Aegon International Eastbourne champion, Lopez, won only 28% of points on Lu’s second serve and was outplayed by the 2010 Wimbledon quarter-finalist. Lu, who is ranked 45 places below Lopez, said: “I played very well today. I tell myself all the time to hold my service games strongly, but I also returned very well today and stayed low. The 31-year-old, who is due last on Centre Court on Thursday, expects a new challenge against Dolgopolov. “Tomorrow I’ll be against a different player,” Lu said. “Feliciano comes to the net more and uses his serve as a weapon, but Alexandr changes the speed a lot and slices well, so I will have to adjust.”
Beginning Thursday’s proceedings will be Bolelli up against Cypriot former World No. 8 Baghdatis in what is to be their first meeting on grass. But the pair have been familiar for a while, says former Australian Open finalist Baghdatis: “We’ve known each other since we were 13 or 14. But when you’re on court, you try to play to win and you don’t think about that too much. He knows my strengths and weaknesses, I know his, so it’s a chess game both ways.”
Ground passes start from just £5 for adults and are free for children on all adult tickets. Centre court tickets start from just £10 for an adult and £5 for a child.
For more information and to purchase tickets please visit http://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham
For information on the hospitality packages on offer at The Aegon Open Nottingham head to http://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham/nottingham-hospitality/ or contact Elliot Sheasby on aegonopen@lta.org.uk