Not surprisingly, the Marseille quarterfinals will have distinct French flavor on Friday. Five of the eight remaining players from hail from the host nation and there will be two all-French showdowns.
(1) Gael Monfils vs. (6) Richard Gasquet
Monfils and Gasquet will be facing each other for the 13th time in their careers and for the first time in more than two years when they clash in the quarterfinals of the Open 13 on Friday. The head-to-head series stands at 7-5 in favor of Monfils, who is 4-2 against his fellow Frenchman on indoor hard courts. Gasquet, however, took their most recent encounter 6-4, 6-3 in the semis of the 2015 Montpellier event.
This is only Monfils’ second tournament of the season, but the good news is that more than enough rest has seemingly kept him fresh in both the physical and mental departments. The world No. 12, who is coming off a fourth-round performance at the Australian Open, kicked off his week in Marseille with a 6-1, 6-4 beatdown of Sergiy Stakhovsky on Thursday. Gasquet, a recent runner-up in Montpellier, has advanced with a three-set victory over Robin Haase and a straight-set win at the expense of Mikhail Youzhny. Although it has not always been the case throughout their careers, Monfils is the more consistent of the two veterans right now and he should get the job done assuming he remains focused and motivated.
Pick: Monfils in 3
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(7) Gilles Simon vs. (2) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Another all-French affair will feature Tsonga and Simon for the 11th time in their careers. Tsonga is leading the head-to-head series 7-3, including 4-1 on indoor hard courts. They also squared off at this same Marseille event in 2013, when Tsonga dominated a semifinal showdown 6-2, 6-2 on the way to his second of two career Open 13 titles. The world No. 11 is 19-5 lifetime in Marseille following a 6-3, 6-3 rout of Illya Marchenko on Thursday.
Simon is a decent 6-3 on the year with a third-round finish at the Aussie Open (lost to Milos Raonic). This week’s seventh seed booked his spot in the last eight by taking out Karen Khachanov and Julien Benneteau in three sets, thus bouncing back from a second-round Rotterdam setback against Dominic Thiem. Based on both current form (Tsonga captured the Rotterdam) title and past history of this matchup, including the 2013 Marseille blowout, there is a lot to like about Tsonga’s chances in this one and throughout the remainder of the tournament.
Pick: Tsonga in 2
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Tsonga in two,Monfils in three.
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