Ernests Gulbis has a tough match against Gilles Simon for a place in the Sydney final.
Gulbis is the third seed at the Medibank International and as the highest ranked player left in the draw he will be hoping to add to the maiden ATP title he won in Delray Beach last year.
However the Latvian has been struggling physically after a gruelling second round clash with Igor Andreev. Gulbis recovered to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 6-4 in the quarters but he admitted he is suffering in the longer matches.
"That match killed me physically," he said. "It was really humid and I lost a lot of fluids, so straight I went to the hotel and I went to sleep. I didn't feel good.”
This will interest Simon who will be hoping to draw Gulbis into long, protracted rallies and grind it out from the back of the court. The former world number six has looked very impressive this week, reaching this stage without dropping a set. He saw off eighth seed Yen-Hsun Lu 6-0, 6-3 in round one and beat big hitting Aleksandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-3 in the last eight.
Expect Simon’s patient approach to see him through to the final.
