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Monfils reaches Hamburg quarters
Monfils, who still lacks a trophy this season, fired ten aces past the Czech who could only convert one of six break-point opportunities. The Frenchman finished the game also with a 55 first serve and eight break-point chances, compared with the Czech who despite having a much better first serve percent of 61, came up with a poor 35 percentage of return points. World number seven Monfils is now to face compatriot Gilles Simon whom he will be playing for the second time.
Simon, who is eyeing his second title of the season after Sydney success, edged Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in three sets, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. The Frenchman converted five points, while his opponent managed to grab six break points out of 16 opportunities. Even so, the Finnish conceded the first set at six and although he had a great momentum in the second term, it was the same Simon to set the pace in the decider when he picked his last break of the clash. Jarkko won all his breaks in the second round when he was forced to overcome a one-service deficit.
Simon finished the game with a poor 36 percentage of return points, but counter-balanced that with a 66 first serve one, compared to Nieminen who had a 59 first serve percentage and a much better percentage of return points of 56. The head to head series between Monfils and the world number 18 Simon is led by the latter one who first beat Monfils at the Australian Open two years ago.
Previous to the third term win Monfils had ousted Albert Ramos 6-4, 6-2 so the main favorite has made the progress without conceding any set so far. Simon had previously eliminated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-1. “It will be a great match against Gilles Simon part of the French team. We know each other very good and I expect a very tough match. A lot of running on the baseline,” said Monfils of tomorrow’s clash against Simon.
On the same first half of the draw, Mikhail Youzhny and Marin Cilic will fight for a semi final berth. The Russian upset Julian Reister 6-3, 6-3, while his next opponent follows a three-set hard fought victory over Tobias Kamke whom he conceded the first set, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Fourth seed Youzhny conceded seven aces from the crowd favorite, but managed to grab Reister three times compared to his zero break-point chances. The Russian also won 80 percent of service points and finished the game with zero double faults.
As for Marin Cilic, the Croatian broke Kamke four times of five tries, hitting at the same time seven aces compared to German’s two breaks and one ace. The head to head series between the world number 32 Cilic and 17th-ranked Russian is led 4-1 by the 29-year-old who last beat Marin at the 2010 Munich event. However, the last victory belongs to Cilic though who defeated Youzhny at this term’s Marseille tournament in the semi finals.
En route to the quarter finals, Cilic had also defeated Bastian Knittel 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, while Youzhny had previously upset Carlos Berlocq 7-5, 7-6. Concerning the second half of the draw, second seed Jurgen Melzer has set a tough meeting with Fernando Verdasco after the Austrian beat Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-3. Melzer broke his opponent four times, giving him no chance to break back as he also finished the game with an impressive 71 first service percent, compared to the Italian who came up with a poor 33 percent of return points and four double faults.
Eighth seed Verdasco ousted Nikolay Davydenko’s killer Cedrik Marcel Stebe in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 to set his eighth meeting with the world number 12 Melzer. The 27-year-old Spaniard leads the direct confrontations 5-2, having last defeated the 30-year-old at the 2010 Barcelona clay event. On the other side, Melzer’s last win dates from the 2010 Madrid Masters.
Verdasco had previously ousted compatriot and Stuttgart finalist Pablo Andujar 6-2, 6-3, while Melzer had eliminated Daniel Gimeno 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in the second term. Finally, Nicolas Almagro and Florian Mayer will be the last to fight for a semi final place. The Spaniard beat this year’s Halle champion Phillipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5 after capturing three breaks from the German against whom he managed to win 76 percentage of service points. The two also exchanged 13 aces, seven of which being fired by the third seed Almagro who created himself 11 break-point chances, as well.
Spaniard’s next opponent Mayer broke Monaco five times out of ten tries, managing at the same time to finish the game with a 66 first service percentage and a 59 percentage of service points won, compared to Monaco who finished the game with three breaks, and a 41 percentage of return points. En route to the quarter finals, Almagro had also eliminated Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4, while Mayer had previously ousted Marsel Ilhan 6-4, 7-6.
The head to head series between the wrodl number 14 and Mayer is led 3-1 by the 25-year-old Almagro who last beat the world number 20 at the Cincinnati Masters back in 2007. But the last win belongs to the German who defeated Almagro at this year’s Miami Masters.
Hamburg Prize Money and points:
Winner – 230,00 euro and 500 points ATP
Runner-up – 104,850 euro and 300 points ATP
Semi finalist – 48,850 euro and 180 points ATP
Quarter finalist – 23,300 euro and 90 points ATP
R16 – 11,340 euro and 45 points ATP
R32 – 6,045 euro and 20 points ATP
R64 – 3,515 euro and zero points
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