Feliciano Lopez is up against compatriot Albert Montanes in an intriguing clash in the last eight of the Serbia Open on Friday.
Lopez ended Fernando Gonzalez's comeback with an entertaining 6-4, 7-6 win over the Chilean yesterday. There was not much in it and it was Lopez's consistent aggressive play on the key points which paid dividends for him, a couple of sublime volleys giving him the edge in the second set tiebreak.
Lopez paid tribute to Gonzalez's efforts afterwards, saying, "I think Fernando played well. He went almost a year without playing, but it seems like he was not injured, because of the way he hit the ball. He was serving well, hitting the forehand unbelievably."
It's a second straight quarter-final for the left-hander after his efforts in Barcelona last week. He will fancy his chances against fourth seed Montanes who did not look particularly impressive as he scraped past Michael Berrer 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach his third ATP quarter-final of the season.
These two know each other's games very well as they came up through the lower levels of the tour at the same time and played on multiple occasions as they battled through futures and challenger events. They have played 3 times on the ATP circuit with Lopez holding the edge in recent years.
Prediction: Lopez in 3.
