JCF Brings It Into The Quarters

Another old-school favorite has advanced into the quarterfinals. Juan Carlos Ferrero took care of Gilles Simon 7-6(4) 6-3 6-2 pretty convincingly. Both players have struggled of late, but both really began playing their way into the tournament last week.

Ferrero and Simon have similar playing styles. Both are great counterpunchers who like to play their opponents off the court. The two players also have great movement on the court. A negative for both players is that they tend to hang out on the baseline when they get into trouble. Today, Ferrero was better at all of their positive attributes and did not fall back on his heels. In fact, the 29-year-old Spaniard was pretty aggressive.

At first, Simon came out and was executing his game plan better. He managed to break Ferrero and serve for the first set, but Ferrero stepped up his game to eventually break Simon back. Like in his last match, he was able to pick apart and outplay the French Musketeer. Ferrero evened the set at 5-5 and was able to take the set to a tiebreak, where he snatched the set from Simon at 7-4. With a set under his belt, the former French Open champion sailed smoothly to the finish line.

Ferrero will have the large task of playing Andy Murray. Murray is heavily favored to meet Roger Federer in the finals. The Scotsman leads their matchup 1-0. In their only meeting, Murray beat Ferrero in the semifinal of this year’s Queen's Club tournament. We shall see if Ferrero will be able to exact revenge or if he allows the odds and history steamroll him.

(Image: AP)