Simon dumped out in Dubai

Eighth seed Gilles Simon crashed out of first round of the Dubai Open 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 against unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

Unseeded Baghdatis upsets Frenchman

Eighth seed Gilles Simon of France crashed out of first round of the Dubai Open 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 against unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. Simon, who is on the comeback trail after a long-term knee injury, has not won a match on the ATP Tour for three-and-a-half months. He broke back twice in the opening set against former Australian Open finalist Baghdatis and recovered from three games down in the second. But the Cypriot rallied consistently and demonstrated an aggressive serve en-route to his victory as he capitalised on a high error ratio from Simon. "You can see Gilles is a great player, but he was lacking in confidence. He just needs matches," said Baghdatis. Simon admits the errors he made proved costly, particularly in the final game. "I had many opportunities but every time I was close I just did too many mistakes," said Simon. "The last game he didn't have to do anything, (I) just did four mistakes."