Gilles Simon through to Queen's Club final where he will face Feliciano Lopez
Gilles Simon to face Feliciano Lopez in final. Spaniard leads the head to head meetings 5-2
Saturday 22 June 2019 18:45, UK
Veterans Gilles Simon and Feliciano Lopez will meet in the final of the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen's Club after both men battled through in three sets on Saturday.
Simon, 34, stayed on course to become the first Frenchman to win the Queen's Club singles title in the Open era. He made it through to his first ATP final since winning in Metz last September as he outlasted Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-3.
Former champion Feliciano Lopez defeated Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-4. The Spanish wild card is now one match away from another grass-court title.
Frenchman Simon has gone the distance in all four of his matches this week, including the longest match in the history of Queen's Club against Nicolas Mahut, a three-hour, 20-minute marathon on Thursday.
"I put the ball in the court. That's what I do and I do it for [a] long [time]," said a smiling Simon. "It was a really, really good performance today with the fatigue from the match yesterday, a lot of tension, but I found a good rhythm and I was able to hold it until the end."
The semi-final looked to be heading towards similar territory after a first set lasting more than an hour, won by Medvedev on a tie-break.
But it was Medvedev who began to falter and Simon ran out the winner in two hours and 37 minutes to put him one victory away from his 15th career singles crown.
He will play 37-year-old Lopez in Sunday's final after the Spaniard came from a set down to beat Auger-Aliassime.
Auger-Aliassime, the 18-year-old from Canada, was bidding to become the youngest Queen's Club finalist since Boris Becker in 1985.
He took the first set on a tie-break but ran out of steam as Lopez went on to wrap up a fine win. He now has the chance to break his own record as the oldest winner.
