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Simon stuns Serb Grand Slam winner at Marseille Open

Defending champion Gilles Simon stunned Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in the second round of the Marseille Open on Thursday.

Djokovic, the top seed, exited with No. 2 seed Richard Gasquet, who was overcome by Robin Soderling of Sweden 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Djokovic was not at the top of his game. The Serb made a flurry of unforced errors to lose his serve twice in the first set, and had to save a match point in the second set tiebreaker at 6-5 to force a third against Simon, the unseeded Frenchman.

Then Djokovic squandered three break points in the last set while Simon converted his only break point to lead 3-1 and serve out.

Simon, who saved all six break points he faced, will face in the quarterfinals compatriot and eighth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu, who edged Michael Llodra of France 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).

Djokovic suggested afterwards it may have been better if he had not come to Marseille.

"I was not 100 percent fit," he told reporters. "I struggled in the long rallies and against a player as strong as Simon, that's not good enough.

"After the weekend in Moscow, the chances I would come here were not good but there was a lot of pressure for me to come. That will teach me a lesson," he said.

Simon showed no mercy, saying: "I don't look for excuses when I lose so I don't find excuses for those I beat. He was sluggish and that suited me."

Gasquet lost to Soderling in Marseille for the second straight year. They are 2-2 against each other.

Soderling, the 2004 runner-up who lost to Simon in last year's semi-finals, is playing in his first ATP event since August when he injured his left wrist. He fired 19 aces to beat Gasquet.

"I'm really happy with the way I played today," Soderling told Sport Plus television. "Maybe in the beginning I was a bit slow and I didn't play my best. But in the second set I played good tennis."

Also on Thursday, Mario Ancic of Croatia cruised past Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-3, 6-2, while No. 3 Mikhail Youzhny and No. 4 Andy Murray were winners.

Youzhny fought off seven break points to beat Julien Benneteau of France 7-5, 6-3 and improved to 13-1 on the year after winning in Chennai and reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals.

Murray outlasted Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 in 2 hours, 21 minutes for the second time this year. Murray also beat Wawrinka last month in Doha, where the Scot won his fourth career title. He was due to face Nicolas Mahut of France in the last eight.

Next up for Youzhny was Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who defeated Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 6-4 and won the ace count 15 to 14.
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