Gilles Simon begins his Thailand Open campaign against Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei.
Simon won this tournament without dropping a set back in 2009, taking out Jurgen Melzer and Viktor Troicki in the process. The Frenchman is a very dangerous customer indoors and it was his success on the indoor circuit which took him to a career high of six in the world a few years ago.
He's had a superb 2011 season on all surfaces and is on the brink of breaking back into the world's top ten after winning titles in Sydney and Hamburg. He should make at least the semi-finals this week with a draw which could see him take on Andy Murray in the last four.
After growing up on artifical grass courts, Lu enjoys his greatest success during the summer grass-court swing, reaching the Wimbledon quarters in 2010 and the third round this year. Aside from that it's been a fairly average 2011 season for him though he did pick up a confidence boosting challenger title in China a couple of weeks ago. He eased past Joao Souza 6-2, 7-5 in the first round here.
Simon has never had any problems against Lu, winning all four of their previous matches. He's beaten Lu twice in 2011 - 6-0, 6-3 in Sydney and 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 at the Australian Open.
Prediction: Simon in two.
