Simon Leaves a Wide Open Winston-Salem | IXGAMES
Gilles Simon went into this week’s Winston-Salem Open as the No. 1 seed, and he was the second favorite to win outright at +500 before Tuesday’s second-round matchup with Aljaz Bedene. Unfortunately for Simon, his tournament ended early, as Bedene won 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 in a closely-fought contest. That leaves fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the likely winner of the last tune-up before the 2015 US Open. Tsonga was already the +335 favorite to claim his first Winston-Salem Open, despite being the No. 3 seed, and he advanced to the third round with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Denis Istomin. Next up is No. 13 Steve Johnson (+3300) from Redondo Beach, California. These two players have yet to face each other in singles action. The other top favorite at Winston-Salem is South Africa’s Kevin Anderson (+600), the No. 2 seed, who also needed to come from behind in Tuesday’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Mikhail Kukushkin. The 30-year-old is at the peak of his career, reaching the fourth round at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. Anderson was due to face No. 16 Jerzy Janowicz (+2000) from Poland in the third round. In Other Tennis News