Gilles Simon Into Sydney Final

Gilles Simon looks to be finally getting back into some good form as he booked his place in the final of the Medibank International in Sydney.

The Frenchman was blighted by a knee injury last year but is beginning to show the form that took him to number six in the world as he saw off Ernests Gulbis in straight sets.

It may have been Simon who was victorious but it was Gulbis who made the better start as he broke his opponent immediately to quickly gain the momentum.

But Simon got the set back on level terms in the tenth game as he broke back to level the set at 5-5, two games later a tie break was needed to decide the first set.

And it was Simon who dominated from the start as he took it 7-1 as Gulbis’ game completely broke down.

Into the second and it all went the way of the Frenchman as Gulbis looked a shadow of the player that he had been in the opening set.

Nothing went well for Gulbis as she struggled with his serve - Simon took full advantage as he handed the Latvian a bagel set.

In just seventy three minutes Simon had wrapped up a 7-6 (7-1) 6-0 victory and booked his spot in the final as he hunts for his eighth career win.

Speaking to ESPN the Frenchman said: “I had some good weeks the last three months of the season. I’m thinking about Metz, of course. I was playing good in France, also in Valencia.

“In Metz, I was playing good, not moving as I wanted; in Valencia, I remember I was more confident and more confident about my knee, but I was not playing that good. So this weeks it’s better.”

He will now face Serbia’s Viktor Troicki as he came through a tough match with Florian Mayer - eventually winning 6-4 7-6.

The Serb seemed to struggle with the windy conditions as he notched up forty unforced errors during the match - however he did hit thirty seven winners.

His passage to the final may have been a little easier if he’d have seized his break point opportunities - breaking just four times from eight chances.

But after being pushed to a tie break in the second set by the German he finally came through - 7-4 in that breaker to set up a clash with Simon.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw