The ATP Montpellier semi-finals see an all-French clash between Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils.
Simon is looking to pick up his 10th ATP title this week. He has a decent record in France having won the Marseille and Metz titles in the past. The second seed ground out a typically dogged baseline encounter with Guillaume Rufin in the quarters, edging through 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-2 in just under three hours.
He'll need to raise his game if he's going to get past Monfils. The 2010 Montpellier champion kept his campaign rolling with an impressive 6-3, 6-3 win over veteran Jarkko Nieminen, dropping a measly six points on serve in the process.
Monfils is looking to reach his second ATP final of the season after beating Rafa Nadal to reach the Doha final a few weeks ago. However he's yet to score a win over Simon, losing both their encounters on the tour.
Simon was leading 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 when Monfils retired in the 2009 Australian Open and won 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in Hamburg last summer.
However based on form so far this week, you have to put Monfils as favourite. He's turned in two extremely polished performances while Simon looked rather ropey against Rufin.
Prediction: Monfils in three
