Marathon Gilles: Simon Ousts Medvedev In Queen’s Club Thriller

Gilles Simon isn’t making it easy for himself at the Fever-Tree Championships, but he’s getting the job done.

After defeating Nicolas Mahut on Friday in the longest match on record at the Queen’s Club since 1991 (three hours and 21 minutes), he took out fourth seed Daniil Medvedev 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 38 minutes on Saturday to reach the final.

“It was hard to recover for this one. Daniil and I practise together and we knew it was going to be tough,” said Simon. “It’s hard for me to hit through him, but when you play a match and you’re a bit tired, sometimes you relax and play great. I was feeling the ball great, even if I wasn’t feeling great in the legs.”

The Frenchman is through to his first final of the season after semi-final finishes in Pune, Sydney and Marrakech. Sunday will mark his first grass-court final since Eastbourne in 2013 (l. to Lopez). He seeks his first title on the surface and to become the first French player to win this event.

Simon awaits the winner between eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and wild card Feliciano Lopez.

“It’s a really hard tournament to win and one of the best in the season. You only have the top players who are able to win here,” said Simon. “I’d like to be part of that list, but I’m just focussed on recovering now and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”