Dubai: The French duo of Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet shrugged off the indoor blues to advance to the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
The third-seeded Simon went past Kuwait's Mohammad Al Gareeb 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in more than two hours of centre court heat, while Gasquet took time to settle in before dispatching Russian wild card Marat Safin 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 later in the evening.
Making his second appearance in Dubai, this was Simon's first outdoor match after his semifinal finish in Marseille last week, where he lost to Llodra. Gasquet, who has slipped down to No 26 on the ATP Tour, is also a second-time entrant here. His last tournament was two weeks back in Rotterdam where he lost in the first round to countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
"I am happy to win as I was playing pretty bad at the start due to the shift from indoors to outdoor," Simon said.
"I had problems with my forehand and serves, but I got confident as the match progressed," he added.
Al Gareeb gave it his all, relying on a solid first serve especially in the first set to win it 7-5. But the Frenchman had a break in the fourth for 3-1, only to see his Kuwaiti opponent - ranked just No 469 - on the ATP Tour, roar for a break at 4-5. But Simon broke one more time and won the set 6-4.
"To me he was completely unknown. I had only watched his match here against Berdych and that was all I knew about him," he added.
The third set was equally well contested but Simon stuck in there to win 6-4 in two hours and seven minutes.
"After playing indoors, it is good to get some more extra time out there," Simon admitted.
The Safin versus Gasquet match could have gone either way with the Frenchman getting off to a great start to take the first set 6-3. The Russian, playing his final year on the Tour, fought back to break in the 12th game in a long second set that lasted 51 minutes.
Gasquet broke in the very first game and then registered another one on the ninth to win 6-3 and book a place against Italian Simone Bolelli.
Also ensuring their passage into the second round was fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 win against Austria's Jurgen Melzer, while German Philipp Kohlschreiber was an easy 6-1, 6-1 winner against Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer to set a meeting with fourth seed David Ferrer of Spain.
