Alexander Zverev will be making quick turnaround on the heels of a huge win when he goes up against Gael Monfils on Friday in Rotterdam. Marin Cilic and Philipp Kohlschreiber are also aiming for a place in the semifinals.
(5) Gael Monfils vs. (WC) Alexander Zverev
Monfils and Zverev will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they square off in the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Friday. Their only previous meeting also came on an indoor hard court last season in Marseille, where Monfils prevailed 6-1, 7-6(12). Fast forward almost exactly 12 months and Zverev is a much-improved player. At just 18 years old, the German will find himself in the top 60 of the world rankings next week. He made a run to the Montpellier semifinals last week and so far in Rotterdam he has taken out Vasek Pospisil (7-5, 6-2) and Gilles Simon (in a third-set tiebreaker on Thursday).
Also in stellar form, Monfils reached the Australian Open quarters while benefiting from the section of the draw vacated by Rafael Nadal. The 18th-ranked Frenchman lost right away in Montpellier to Edouard Roger-Vasselin, but that appears to be nothing more than an aberration. Monfils is back in business this week with mostly straightforward defeats of Ernests Gulbis and Borna Coric. The No. 5 seed will smell blood in the water with Zverev coming off a grueling 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(4) victory that required two hours and 55 minutes. Although Zverev is on a momentous rise that will surely continue, it will be halted briefly by both an in-form opponent and obvious fatigue.
Pick: Monfils in 2
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Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. (2) Marin Cilic
Cilic and Kohlschreiber used to play each other all the time. All of a sudden following the summer of 2012, they simply started avoiding each other in draws with alarming consistency. The two veterans have squared off on eight previous occasions heading into Friday’s quarterfinal date in Rotterdam, but not one of those meetings has come in the last three years. Kohlschreiber leads the head-to-head series 5-3, including 3-2 on hard courts (they are tied 2-2 indoors). Their most recent encounter came four seasons ago on the clay courts of Munich, where the German benefited from home-court advantage and beat Cilic 7-6(8), 6-3 for the title.
Success in Rotterdam was–and still is–critically important to each man. Cilic was just 3-3 for his 2016 campaign and had lost two straight matches heading into this week, in straight sets to both Roberto Bautista Agut (Australian Open) and Zverev (Montpellier). The second-seeded Croat booked his spot in these quarterfinals by taking out Denis Istomin and Gilles Muller without surrendering a set. Kohlschreiber is coming off a quarterfinal showing in Sofia, but that tournament ended for him with a routine setback against Viktor Troicki. The world No. 32 also had a 3-3 record before beginning this week with convincing defeats of Julien Benneteau and Ivan Dodig. But Kohlschreiber has struggled mightily throughout his career against higher-ranked opponents and that trend is likely to continue.
Pick:Â Cilic in 2
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who ya got?
Marin “Five” Cilic over Philipp “Glass” Kohlschreiber in three.
Gael “Force” Monfils over Al “Well-I-just-hope-that-you-not-comparing-me-with-Micsha” Zvevev in two.
La Monf and Cilic in two sets.
Monfils 6=4 6=4
Cilic 7-6 6-4
Solid picks
LaMonf in 2
Cilic in 3
Monfils in 2
Cilic in 3
Cilic loses 3-6 6-3 6-4. All unseeded players in the semis. Will be 3/4 unseeded if Monfils wins and all unseeded if Zverev wins. Unreal.
That is really something. It’s a great opportunity for Monfils to win the title.
Honestly Marin really annoys me sometimes. He has such a great game when it’s on and such a bad game when off. He can barely make a return at times and he can WIN THE US OPEN sometimes. That amazing run to the title of Grand Slam champ can’t ever be taken from away from him, but after winning the ATP 250 in Moscow after his win at flushing meadows then getting injured and returning at IW 2015 and playing some decent tennis at first, he still hasn’t done much at all since then. His best result since then is at the U.S. Open 2015 when he made the semis, but he got completely demolished by Djoker, winning like three games or something like that. It’s just frustrating that he hasn’t made the most of his talent or his size really. Cilic always had a not so great serve for his height then when Ivansevic came and Cilic won the Open his serve was amazing and I was like “wow Cilic finally has the serve he should have” then he came back from the injury and his serve isn’t gigantic anymore. And the bad part is he doesn’t even beat everyone he should like Berdych. He beats a good amount that he should then loses to a decent amount as well. He hasn’t played one top 10 player this year and still has just five wins and four losses. Alright I’m done ranting lol.
All true, Benny. Amen. +1.
#GangnamStyle
Also Monfils is highest ranked player left in the draw. I’m afraid he may lose now that he has been presented this big of an opportunity. He’s definitely the favorite to win the title now. I’m sticking with him to win in 2 because he has been pretty solid this week and Zverev will be tired which is not good to be against Monfils but Gael still may lose concentration and drop a set.
Now the tennis channel switched to Monfils-Zverev. On serve in the first set.
Monfils will win this match.
Monfils will win this match.
Monfils gets the break to go up 4-3 in the first set. Good tennis from both guys.
Ooh, some sweet stuff from Monfils at the net. He’s kind of toying with Zverev now. Monfils playing with confidence.
I think that Monfils got sloppy and careless when he was serving for the match.
Now it’s going to be a tb.
Monfils gets it done, winning the first set tb.
Congrats Gael Monfils. 76 63.
Good luck in the Semi’s!
Wasn’t to be for Sascha. But he’ll be ranked in the mid-50’s on Monday. Another good week for him.
assist from Tsimon