Simon rallies to hold off Raonic, reaches Queen's Club semis
LONDON -- Gilles Simon reached his third semifinal of the year by eliminating third-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 at Queen's Club on Friday.
The seventh-seeded Frenchman surrendered the opening set on a single break of serve at 1-1, but in a 12-minute game at 2-2 in the second set he fought off three break points before breaking for a 4-2 lead.
Neither player earned a break point in the final set until at 5-5, when a netted backhand gave Simon the decisive break. He needed five match points to close it out in 2 hours, 18 minutes.
Simon will next play South Africa's Kevin Anderson, who beat Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (7), 7-5.
Anderson, who saved a match point against Lleyton Hewitt in the first round, hit 18 aces but failed to earn a break point until leading 6-5 in the second set.
There were just two other break points in the match, which Garcia-Lopez failed to convert in the opening game of the second set.
