The first Grand Slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open, will kick off on Monday, January 15th, and Romania will bring many top Top players to the start and hope is growing every year. In the men’s circuit, the only Romanian participant is Marius Copil, who will play the first round match starting at 05:30 against the Frenchman Gilles Simon.
Marius Copil
Marius, aged 27, currently occupies the 93th place in the ATP circuit of the simple test.
The end of the 2017 season was a fairly consistent one, reaching the final of the competition in two Challenger tournaments, played in the hard room.
In this beginning of the year, Marius only participated in the tournament in Pune, India, where he was defeated in the first round by Laszlo Djere.
Gilles Simon
The 33-year-old French player currently occupies the 57th place in the ATP circuit of the Simple Sample.
The 2017 season was a totally unfavorable for the French, being defeated in most of the tournaments in the first rounds, without any noticeable result throughout the season.
The beginning of 2018 was a totally different one from the previous one, winning the tournament in Pune, India, where he defeated the South African Kevin Anderson, his morale being excellent before the start of the Australian Open round.
Direct meetings
The Australian Open tournament match will be the 2nd straight encounter between the two players, the previous match being won in 2014 by Marius.