By Chris Oddo | Saturday January 6, 2018
Gilles Simon took out the three top seeds and finished with a flourish by knocking off Kevin Anderson for the Pune title.
Photo Source: Eurosport
Gilles Simon is officially off the schneid.
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The Frenchman won his first title since February of 2015 by knocking off No.2-seeded Kevin Anderson, 7-6(4), 6-2, on Saturday at the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune, India.
It was Simon’s first win over Anderson in four tries. He saved four of five break points in the opening set before taking it in a tiebreaker, winning a 39-stroke rally to close the set. Simon dropped only three service points in set two and broke twice on six opportunities to dominate the second set.
Anderson drops to 3-10 lifetime in finals. He hit 29 winners but was ultimately undone by 40 unforced errors. Simon improves to 13-6 lifetime in ATP finals.
"It's the first time I managed to beat him," Simon said. "I still don't know how I did it. I'm really, really happy I was able to make it."
Simon also finished runner-up in doubles. He and Pierre-Hugues Herbert fell to Robin Haase and Matwe Middelkoop, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in the final.