He reached the semifinals in Rotterdam the next week. In May, he entered Casablanca as a qualifier due to his late entry to the tournament, even though his ranking was high enought to be seeded. Simon went on to win the tournament by defeating Julien Benneteau, 7--5, 6--2, in the final. After _his_ third-round loss to countryman Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon, Simon left Europe for the United States to familiarize himself with the hard courts before the U.S. Open Series. <sep>, Pronoun: his <sep>, A: Simon <sep>, B: Julien Benneteau