Simon to play Troicki in Sydney final

Gilles Simon will be looking for some Gallic revenge at the Sydney International
final before he may have to prepare for one of the toughest assignments in men's
tennis - beating Roger Federer at a grand slam.
The Frenchman won through to the decider at Sydney Olympic Park in a controversial
match against Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7-1) 6-0, the Latvian folding miserably in the
second set where he won just three points.
Simon will play Serb Viktor Troicki, who eased through his semi-final in more
regulation fashion with a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) win over German Florian Mayer.
Former world No.6 Simon, who spent half of 2010 out with a knee injury, gets the
chance to put an end to Troicki's recent habit of beating Frenchmen when it matters
most.
Substituted into the deciding Davis Cup final singles rubber against the French in
Belgrade last month, Troicki was magnificent, capturing the match against Michael
Llodra in straight sets to hand his country its first title.
Troicki also beat another Frenchman in Richard Gasquet in Sydney and had racked up
impressive wins against the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jeremy Chardy in recent
months.
Simon, who lost a lone singles match in the Davis Cup final, said he'd love to beat
Troicki in the final but the team trophy would have been far sweeter.
"The Davis Cup is finished now," he said.
"It's a good memory for them and bad for us. That's it. Even if I win 6-0 6-0
tomorrow, it won't change anything. I prefer to win the Davis Cup."
Simon does have a 4-0 record against the Serb on tour.
Things then get even tougher for Simon at the Australian Open, after a first-round
match against Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun Simon he is expected to play Federer.
"You shouldn't tell me," he said with a smile when told Federer was a likely second
round opponent at Melbourne Park.
"You don't know if I want to know it."
Gulbis won just three points in the second set against Simon on Friday but was
cleared by ATP supervisor Thomas Karlberg for tanking, the official accepting his
reasoning that he had simply run out of gas.
Serving for the first set at 5-4, Gulbis had a horror 10th game.
Down 0-40 he hit an errant forehand to lose his service break, punctuating the
moment by smashing his racquet and then handing it to a member of the crowd.
"Okay, I made three points. Bad luck. Next time I will make four," Gulbis said.
In his semi-final Troicki had just too much armoury for Mayer but admitted being on
the wrong side of some beatings from Simon in the past.
"I played Gilles a few times and I never won a set against him. So definitely it's
not going to be an easy match for me," said Troicki, who added he was still full of
confidence after the Davis Cup triumph.
Troicki has a potentially tricky first-round Australian Open clash with Russian
former world No.20 Dmitry Tursunov.