Injury worry for Simon

20 May 2015 06:02

Top seed Gilles Simon was forced to pull out of the Nice Open on Wednesday, casting doubts over his fitness for the French Open.

The 30-year-old withdrew with a neck injury, having also retired from the Italian Open in Rome last week because of a similar problem.

The French Open starts on Sunday and world number 13 Simon admits he is concerned about his fitness.

He told the tournament's official site: "It is progressing well but too slowly.

"I was always very bad, too bad to play. I'll leave Nice tomorrow morning and I'll go and have an MRI. I did the same place as usual so it worries me a little."

Lucky loser Quentin Halys from France replaced Simon in the second-round draw and faced Australian James Duckworth for a quarter-final spot, but lost 7-6 (7/0) 7-6 (7/5).

Leonardo Mayer advanced to the last eight with a 6-4 6-0 win over French wild card Lucas Pouille to set up a meeting against eighth seed Juan Monaco.

Ernests Gulbis beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-5 4-6 6-1 while Borna Coric ousted qualifier Gianni Mina 7-6 (7/4) 6-3.

Dominic Thiem progressed when Nick Kyrgios retired with an elbow injury while trailing 4-3 in the first set and Dusan Lajovic overcame Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 4-6 7-5 to set up a meeting with American John Isner in the next round.

Source: PA