The semifinal lineup in Montpellier on Saturday is full of Frenchmen and Germans. In action for the host nation are Richard Gasquet and Paul-Henri Mathieu, who are set for respective meetings with Dustin Brown and Alexander Zverev.
(1) Richard Gasquet vs. (Q) Dustin Brown
Gasquet and Brown will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they battle on Saturday for a place in the Open Sud de France championship match. Aside from his 2015 Wimbledon upset of Rafael Nadal, this has already been the best week of Brown’s career. The 133rd-ranked German had to qualify just to get into the main draw and he is now through to his first-ever ATP semifinal following victories over Steve Darcis, Gilles Simon, and Ruben Bemelmans. Brown had previously been 0-8 in quarterfinals before beating Bemelmans 6-3, 6-3 on Friday.
This is the first tournament of Gasquet’s season, as he has been dealing with a back problem. But the 10th-ranked Frenchman has wasted no time getting back in gear. He punched his ticket to the last four with straight-set defeats of Ernests Gulbis and Marcos Baghdatis. Brown is an extremely dangerous opponent and can really catch fire when he is playing confidently, but he has never been in this situation. Gasquet has a clear edge in experience and he will also enjoy home-court advantage in France.
Pick: Gasquet in 2
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Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. Alexander Zverev
It will be another Germany vs. France showdown when Zverev and Mathieu take the court on Saturday. Facing an opponent on the completely different end of the career spectrum is nothing new for Zverev this week. The 18-year-old German beat 30-year-old Luca Vanni in round one (saved a match point), upset world No. 13 and 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic, and then held off 35-year-old countryman Michael Berrer 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-5 on Friday. Zverev is through to his second career ATP semifinal, having previously made a surprising run in Hamburg two seasons ago.
The 34-year-old Mathieu has endured various bouts with injury of late, but he is currently inside the top 100 at 93rd in the rankings. He has advanced in Montpellier with victories over Elias Ymer, Benoit Paire, and John Millman, surrendering just one set to Millman in the process. This will be the fourth career meeting between the two players and first at the ATP level. Zverev leads the head-to-head series 2-1 with a pair of Challenger wins in 2014 (one on clay, one on hard). Mathieu took their most recent encounter 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 last season on the clay courts of the Aix en Provence Challenger. Both men are coming off tough three-setters and it will likely be easier for the teenager to recover. Zverev may be able to blast his opponent off the court in straights, but he could be in trouble if this turns into a tense three-setter.
Pick: Zverev in 2
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Crazy good tennis from Brown! 😀
Got the break in 2nd and holds. 3-1
Amazing Brown.
Also that’s a tough loss for Zverev. Huge for Mathieu to make final though. Who would’ve thought he would be the Frenchman to make the final from the bottom half.
He’s gonna have to decide whether he wants to succeed in singles or go all out in doubles. Right now he’s falling between two stools – bit like Posocks.
Dang it. Really thought brown would close it in straights. Now he’s down a break in the third.
My hunch proved unfounded! Gasquet rights the ship.
The Dust settled down.
Over in Sofia I’m pleased to see Troicki is far from having it all his own way. Expecting him to bring the hammer down any minutes now.
Crazy good serving from both men but Troicki has the edge particularly on 2nd serves.
Troicki serving to stay in the match.
Troicki finally brings the hammer down and will now serve for the match. Klizan refuses to go away till the bitter end. Really hard loss for him to accept after playing so well.
Holy cow I just watched highlights of brown and gasquet. Brown was playing so well. I’m stunned that he lost that. To go up 6-1 3-0 he was playing amazing.
As someone said earlier on, he is all or nothing. But that’s his game. When he is on it makes for thrilling matches but high risk tennis will not win him titles. Doubt he can be tamed at his age.
match vs Haase at US Open was the same
I watched the whole match. In the first 1 1/2 sets, Brown was hitting his targets constantly and the more he hit them the more risks he took and the more frustrating it got for Gasquet who couldn’t play against that kind of unconventional shots coming from all over the place.
After Gasquet broke Dustin from 0:3 down, Dustin suddenly started making more errors. He couldn’t rely on his shots anymore and stopped taking risks. Suddenly, he was playing like the regular player ranked outside the top 100.
Yep. He has no consistency to go with his outrageous gifts. Is it between the ears? He loses focus and confidence; the mood passes?
Nadline: Which channel is showing the Montpelier matches?
I watched it online on TennisTV.com.
Lucky you. I’m excluded from it in France 🙁
Watched livescoring for the Zverev brothers in the doubles – so Mischa lost out in singles and doubles.
Like I said yesterday, he is going to have to choose between them.
ed (AT 12:34 PM),
It’s called geoblocking.
http://help.tennistv.com/what-is-geoblocking/
No. It’s called a pain in the arse!
I daren’t add up how much I’m paying in subscriptions to feed my addiction.
Ed, Buenos Aires is not available on tennisTV in France either.
http://help.tennistv.com/list-of-geo-restrictions/
Sorry, I’m not meaning to depress you.
WTF !!!!!!!!!!
Just my luck when I’ve got the time to watch.
Mind you, it doesn’t look like TennisTV is showing Buenos Aires anyway
Are u able to watch the Fed Cup between Germany & Switzerland?
nadline10 (AT 4:18 PM),
I replied to you on Rafa’s page.
I can’t find any matches on the tennis channel. Every time I turn it on, there is a woman’s match being shown.
I assume that they may show matches on a tape delayed basis. So I come on here to read the comments and get results.
Everyone here is focused on the Super Bowl today.
Nny,
I hate Super Bowl!
Tennis Channel had the full Montpellier final. Nothing from Sofia. Quito final comes on in a few minutes, I think. Fed Cup USA v Poland at 1:00 pm, MST.
I left you a message on Rafa’s page. Found the coverage for this coming week. TC did a good job with Fed Cup, Germany v Switzerland, which was thrilling all weekend. And they are following the less compelling, USA v Poland. It’s been no contest so far but nice to see Sloane and Venus. (Radwanska sister’s aren’t playing)