While Ferrer does lead Melzer on head-to-heads, one of our staff writer argues that the Austrian is the pick to make the final in Monte Carlo.
David Ferrer and Jurgen Melzer both enter their semifinal at the 2011 Monte Carlo Masters on-form as Ferrer has not dropped a set in the entire tournament so far while Melzer has dropped just one.
Melzer's draw has been more the more difficult of the two as he had to best 9-time clay court champion Nicolas Almagro in the third round and then Roger Federer, the two seed, in the quarters.
In terms of head-to-heads, Ferrer has the winning record against Melzer at 3-2 however what is interesting to note between these two players is that Melzer has taken the last two matches.
Melzer started playing the best tennis of his career at this time last year and he defeated Ferrer in the round of 32 at the 2010 French Open in straight sets, a result that seemed like a massive upset at the time. Melzer followed that result up with another win against Ferrer at the Paris Masters, a match that was played on the hard court surface.
While Ferrer has two clay court wins over Melzer those are results from 2003 and 2002, matches that do not have much insight any longer.
Oddsmakers certainly consider Ferrer to be the favorite (source: bet365) but that seems to discount the important facts. If Melzer can beat Almagro in straight sets on clay and then follow that up with a straight sets win over Federer, the Austrian should look good to beat Ferrer as well, especially since Melzer has won two straight against the Spaniard.
The Order of Play for Saturday contains the following information regarding their match:
Not Before 1:00PM (GMT)
[4] David Ferrer (ESP) vs [7] Jurgen Melzer (AUT)
