Top seed Gael Monfils faces Radek Stepanek in the match of the day in Hamburg which you can watch live for free on the internet.
Monfils made a solid start to the tournament seeing off Spain's Albert Ramos 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the last sixteen. The top seed's serving was the benchmark of his success, he played very aggressively behind his first serve and won 75% of the points when it went in.
However he faces a stiffer test against the very experienced 32 year old Stepanek who has scored wins over the likes of Roger Federer on this surface. The Czech produced a masterclass in making your chances count as he saw off 13th seed Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-5.
Monfils leads 4-2 on their head-to-head but is fully aware of the threat and Stepanek poses. "It's always difficult to play Radek because he plays very flat, makes a lot of drop shots [and] loves to drive the ball down the line. I know I have to play a certain game. I need to focus on my return because I think he's a great server. I expect a tough match," he said.
Most of their previous matches have come on hard courts with Monfils winning 6-3, 6-3 when they met in Tokyo last autumn. Stepanek's results have also been patchy this year and he was thoroughly outclassed 6-1, 6-3 in Stuttgart last week by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
