Federer and Melzer have a very limited head to head history but the series has been one sided.
Roger Federer and Jurgen Melzer are scheduled to meet at the 2011 Monte Carlo Rolex Masters in a quarterfinal match on Friday.
The two players, despite both being veterans on tour, have only met three times in the past with Federer winning all three of those matches and all of them in straight sets.
Friday's match from Monaco will be the first time that they will meet on the clay court surface and perhaps there is a little bit of hope for Melzer to turn in a different result against Federer. The Austrian made the semifinals of the 2010 French Open, his best Slam result ever, and that was a round better than what Federer turned in at the same event.
Additionally Melzer defeated Nicolas Almagro on Thursday in the round of 16, a noteworthy result as the Spaniard is a very tough clay court player. Almagro has won nine career titles on clay, including two from earlier this season, and it is somewhat surprising to see him fall before the quarters. However Almagro's tight match against Maximo Gonzalez from earlier in the draw hinted that the Spaniard was not on top of his game so perhaps Melzer did not beat Almagro at his best.
Federer is clearly playing sharp at this year's Monte Carlo Masters as in his two matches, he has not yet dropped a set or been extended to a tiebreaker. Melzer did drop a set to Robin Haase in the second round and if the Austrian is not sharp on Friday, Federer will not let him pass into the semifinals.
The Order of Play for Friday contains the following information for the match (all times GMT):
Not Before 11:30 AM
[7] Jurgen Melzer (AUT) vs [2] Roger Federer (SUI)
