Tennis: Simon makes Brisbane semis

Gilles Simon of France smashes a return on the way to winning his quarter-final men's singles match against Santiago Giraldo of Colombia at the Brisbane International tennis tournament, in Brisbane yesterday

Frenchman Gilles Simon continued his low-key run at the Brisbane International with a solid 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 quarter-final win over Santiago Giraldo yesterday.
Second seed Simon lost to Giraldo in the first round in Brisbane last year but was too consistent for the Colombian this time in a match lasting two hours.
Simon has now won three matches this week without dropping a set and looks in better shape than top seed Andy Murray, who has struggled to win his opening two matches.
The Frenchman, ranked 12th in the world, struggled on serve at times throughout the match but was able to break Giraldo at key moments and played a solid tiebreak to take an early advantage.
He then held off the Colombian to advance to the final four and a showdown against third seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, who beat former champion Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
"I think we played a high level from the very first game," Simon said of his match with Giraldo.
"But at the moment I'm just focusing on what I have to do here. I have very good players to beat in the next two matches and I will first see if I am able to do it."