Gael Monfils takes on compatriot Gilles Simon in the quarter-finals of the German Tennis Championships in Hamburg this afternoon.
Monfils produced an impressive third round display on Thursday to see off the experienced veteran Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-4 and the top seed appears to be finding his groove in Hamburg. After a slow start, Monfils returned very sharply, breaking the Czech three times in all.
He now faces fifth seed Simon who is finally enjoying some success in Hamburg. Simon has struggled in the often sluggish conditions at this event in the past, this is the first time he's made the quarters in six visits.
It looked briefly in doubt on Thursday as Simon was stuck in a slugfest against the veteran Jarkko Nieminen, eventually pulling through 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.
“It will be a great match against Simon, part of the French team,” Monfils said. “We know each other very good and I expect a very tough match. A lot of running on the baseline.”
Neither of these two players have reached a semi-final since the start of the year. Monfils' performance at Roland Garros took him into the top ten but aside from that he has not been particularly consistent.
Prediction: Monfils in three
