New Tournament, Same Winning Feeling For Simon

Sixth seed Gilles Simon showed little wear and tear as he won the fifth of his past six matches on Tuesday at the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne.

Simon dismissed American qualifier Tennys Sandgren 7-5, 6-1, breaking five times to make the second round of the ATP 250 event. The 34-year-old Frenchman fell in the final of the Fever-Tree Championships, an ATP 500, on Sunday to Spain’s Feliciano Lopez. Simon will next meet Chilean Nicolas Jarry, who beat Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 7-6(4).

Italian Thomas Fabbiano will next meet second seed Laslo Djere after pushing past Brit qualifier James Ward 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. #NextGenATP Brit Jay Clarke also fell in three sets, losing to Argentine lucky loser Juan Ignaco Londero, who made the fourth round at Roland Garros, 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3. Londero will next meet fifth seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

Two other Brits, however, found a way through to the second round. ASB Classic champion Cameron Norrie won 82 per cent (40/49) of his first-serve points and beat France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 7-6(4), and wild card Daniel Evans beat Moldovan Radu Albot 7-6(2), 6-2. Norrie will next play compatriot and third seed Kyle Edmund.

“Grass-court tennis is just one or two points, and the last two matches I’ve played have been really, really tight. It’s good learning for me, and I definitely have to embrace these short points when I’m playing big servers,” Norrie said.

Evans will face Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, a 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-4 winner against American Denis Kudla. “It was a big fight against a very good grass-court player,” Herbert told ATPTour.com. “I was down 1-4, balls for 1-5, I don’t really know how I managed to come back. I saved two match points too, so I’m happy to come through. It was a hard match.”