Gilles Simon, who is trying to break into the world's top four, survived a tough early challenge at the Dubai Open on Tuesday before defeating Kuwaiti wildcard Mohammed Ghareeb. The world number seven from France was in danger of a spectacular exit in the first round when he stood at four-all, 30-all in final set against Ghareeb, who is ranked outside the top 400 in the world.
But Simon summoned the mental strength and stable judgement to make the right selections and maintain adequate control to take him to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win. There were mitigating factors in allowing himself to get into such trouble.