METZ/STARNBERG, September 20, 2022

Gilles Simon won his first main draw match on the ATP Tour since June by beating David Goffin of Belgium 6-3, 6-3 in Tuesday’s first round of the Moselle Open in Metz. The 37-year-old French wild card entry, who will hang up his racket at the end of the 2022 season, converted four of his eight break-point opportunities to advance in one hour and 33 minutes.

Rolling back the years! 😍

37 year-old @GillesSimon84 takes out Goffin 6-3 6-3 and advances into Round 2@MoselleOpen pic.twitter.com/UkxlQk4qUE

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) September 20, 2022

“We’ve known each other for a very long time and I’m always happy to play against [David], one more time before the end,” said Simon in his on-court interview. “I was really not confident before the match because I know that he can play and I’m never sure about the performance I am going to show on the court. But in the end I played a very good match and it was a very nice win.

“I was playing very consistently today. I had a very good feeling from the baseline. I was missing very few shots and I was able to be offensive enough for him to be a bit in trouble if he started to be passive. So I think I played the match I needed to play. It was really perfect from the start until the end and that’s how I won this one.”

Simon, a three-time champion at the indoor hard-court event, will next take on Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

In other action, Arthur Rinderknech of France fought past Spaniard Jaume Munar 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in two hours and five minutes and will play Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in the second round. Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Jiri Lehecka from the Czech Republic. The encounter lasted one hour and 29 minutes.