Fluke?

You know who has been very disappointing this season and, I am beginning to think, very overrated? Gilles Simon.

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I remember last year, when he had that great run towards the end of the year, beating Federer, Nadal and Djokovic within a reasonably short amount of time, that it was like, 'where did you come from?' He's one of those random Frenchmen that hangs around the top thirty, but to tell the truth, I had no idea he was even in the top twenty, and when he crashed into the top ten, it took me completely by surprise.

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But the fact that's falling out of it has not taken me by surprise. He's not a bad player, certainly (as if anyone who made it into the top ten could ever be bad) but he just doesn't have the weapons that most of those guys have. He's little and zippy and he can certainly give it a good whack, but he's just not got the power and the strokes. Look at today - he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is seeded below him but... seriously, would you ever bet against Jo-Dub in that one? Tsonga has twice the talent and twice the weapons of Simon.

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So how did Simon get into the top ten? I am beginning to think, more and more, that it was a fluke. But it takes some pretty tremendous fluekage to do that, given the current state of men's tennis - hint, it's nothing like the disaster zone of women's tennis. So I'm throwing down a challenge to you, Gilles Simon. Prove me wrong. Prove to me that your run at the end of last year was not a fluke and show me what you're made of.

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Today's Results

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Sony Ericsson Open (Miami)

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Men's Draw

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Fernando Verdasco def. Radek Stepanek, 6-2 6-2

Novak Djokovic def. Tomas Berdych, 6-3 6-2

Andy Murray def. Viktor Troicki, 6-1 6-0

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Gilles Simon, 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-2

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Women's Draw

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Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1