Andy Murray will continue his Shenzhen campaign against Juan Monaco during semifinal action on Saturday. Tommy Robredo and Santiago Giraldo are also bidding for a spot in the title match.
Juan Monaco vs. (2) Andy Murray
Murray and Monaco will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers when they collide in the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open on Saturday. The head-to-head series stands at 2-2, with Murray having won two of their three previous hard-court encounters. They have not faced each other since 2010, when Murray cruised 6-4, 6-1 at the Shanghai Masters before Monaco prevailed 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 a few weeks later.
Fast forward four years and Monaco, 30, is struggling at this point in his career. The Argentine is 19-17 for his 2014 campaign while registering at 97th in the world. He booked his place in the last four by taking out Federico Delbonis, Vasek Pospisil, and Richard Gasquet. Murray has advanced with straight-set wins over Somdev Devvarman and Lukas Lacko. Monaco is in the mist of his best hard-court tournament of the season, but the 11th-ranked Scot will almost certainly be too tough on this surface.
Pick: Murray in 2 losing 8 games or fewer
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(6) Santiago Giraldo vs. (4) Tommy Robredo
Robredo and Giraldo will be meeting for the fourth time in their careers and for the second time this season. Giraldo leads the head-to-head series 2-1 after scoring a 6-3, 6-4 victory on the clay courts of Houston back in April. Their only previous hard-court clash came back at the 2010 Australian Open, where the Colombian dominated 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
A resurgent Robredo, however, has been mostly stellar the past two years. Back up to No. 22 in the world, the Spaniard is 34-20 in 2014 following three-set Shenzhen wins over Sam Groth and Andreas Seppi. Giraldo needed three sets to defeat Chinese wild card Bowen Ouyang before taking care of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Viktor Troicki in straights. This is the world No. 30’s first match of the week against someone who did not get into the main draw as either a wild card or a qualifier. Robredo has been a master at winning final sets of late, so he may have the edge in a competitive match.
Pick: Robredo in 3
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Robredo polishes off Giraldo in straight sets although it was more competitive than the scoreline suggests.
Murray making very heavy weather of this match. Pico giving him all kinds of trouble 🙂
Cos it’s the only active thread this week 😀
Just an observation not a complaint!
^^^^whoops on the wrong thread 🙁
What’s wrong with Andy?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByhuSrCCAAAuy5W.png
Clearly not well. at all. He’s was totally knackered throughout the first set and only sheer will power got him through the second. Not looking good at all. Plus Nico is hopping around like a frisky bunny.
After a very dodgy set and a half Andy found a second wind and turned the match around. Felt sad for Nico but good to see him playing so well after all his injury struggles.
I rooted for Pico, because he is Rafa’s friend.