Janowicz downs Simon to reach Paris final

Janowicz became the first qualifier to reach the final of a Masters tournament since Andrei Pavel in 2003.

He needed just one hour and 28 minutes to reach the championship match where he will face either world number five David Ferrer, the Spaniard seeing off a stubborn challenge from French wildcard Michael Llodra 7-5 6-3 in the later semi-final.

As impressive as the victory was for Janowicz, the most striking thing about the match was the calm and nerveless manner in which the Pole went about deconstructing Simon’s game.

There was no sign of nerves from the world number 69 in what was undoubtedly the biggest match of his career so far, Janowicz’s serve in particular staying strong even under the pressure of serving for the first set and serving out the match.

In fact, Simon had next to no success against the Janowicz serve, only once pushing the Pole to deuce and never holding a break point.

The drop shot was also a potent weapon for Janowicz, the 21-year-old picking up a number of his 39 winners with that shot, including sealing the match with a forehand drop shot that span away from Simon so severely that he could not reach it before the second bounce.

"For me this is still like I cannot believe this actually. How is this possible?," Janowicz said.

"I came here just to play qualifications and suddenly after few days I'm in the final. I don't know how I did this but tomorrow the final is waiting for me. Wow.

"I need still some time to relax a little bit, to think about this match, to accept this situation. Right now I'm in the final. After this match point, I just fell down and I was crying almost like a baby. Big baby.

After dropping his first service game against Janko Tipsarevic in the quarter-finals, Janowicz seemed determined not to put himself in the same position again and came exploding out of the blocks with a series of unreturnable serves before finishing with an ace.

He also enjoyed some early success on the Simon serve, pushing the Frenchman to deuce in the very first game of the match before breaking in the fifth with back-to-back forehand winners.

That one break proved decisive in the first set as Janowicz continued to hold serve with ease before sealing the set, again with consecutive forehand winners, in the 10th game.

Refusing to be rattled Simon quietly went about his business of keeping the pressure on Janowicz in the second. The Frenchman could hardly have been asked to do more, in fact, comfortably holding his own service games and even enjoying the odd moment of success against the Janowicz serve.

But the Pole stood firm, allowing Simon to get to deuce just the once and never facing a break point, and just when it looked as though the set would be decided by a tie-break, Janowicz made his move.

Again it was the forehand that did the damage for Janowicz, Simon failing to deal with it but instead dumping his returns into the net. A forehand winner across court from the Pole set up three break points, but he only needed the one as a forehand drop shot was enough to beat Simon for pace.

Janowicz then made light work of serving out the match, looking every inch the player who believed he deserved a place in the final, the drop shot again proving too much for Simon, who returned it into the net.

Janowicz has won a lot of fans in Paris this week with his run and it was easy to see how much the win meant to him as he sank to his knees and burst into tears the moment the win was secure, before admitting in an equally emotional, faltering post-match interview that he is physically and emotionally exhausted.

"The street next to my house actually is completely blocked," Janowicz told reporters in a news conference. There is like about nine or 10 cars, TVs, and it's completely blocked. There is no way to get to my house right now.

"So I think after this final I have a chance to find some really good sponsors and I will not have to worry about the money.

"For sure I get some money just from the tournament of course here, but when you are making final in this kind of tournament, you should have some sponsors anyway."

His world ranking will already rise considerably when the new set are released on Monday but just one more win, in a week that has already seen him beat top 20 players Phillip Kohlschreiber, Marin Cilic, Tipsarevic and Simon, as well as world number three Andy Murray, and he will be in a position to be seeded for the opening Grand Slam of 2013 - the Australian Open.