Rafael Nadal will continue his Stuttgart campaign against Gael Monfils during semifinal action on Saturday. Marin Cilic and Viktor Troicki are also aiming for a spot in the title match.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (4) Gael Monfils
Nadal and Monfils will be squaring off for the 13th time in their careers when they clash in the semifinals of the Mercedes Cup on Saturday. The head-to-head series stands at a dominant 10-2 in Nadal’s favor, but they have never faced each other on grass. They also have not met since early in 2014, when the Spaniard prevailed 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-2 in Doha and 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 at the Australian Open. Both of Monfils’ victories came in Doha, first in 2009 and then in 2012.
It has already been an eventful week for both players. Nadal needed three sets in each of his first two matches and he has spent a total of exactly six hours on the singles court (two hours and 40 minutes against Marcos Baghdatis; two hours and 20 minutes against Bernard Tomic). Monfils held off Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-6(6), 7-6(5) before fighting past Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 on Friday. The 16th-ranked Frenchman is a stellar 24-9 for the season. Nadal, on the other hand, has struggled from start to finish this year and his record stands at 31-10. He has to be short on confidence after failing to win a single title on European clay. The good news for Nadal is that Monfils has also worked hard through two matches and the underdog is not particularly comfortable on grass.
Pick: Nadal in 2
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(8) Viktor Troicki vs. (2) Marin Cilic
An all-seeded semifinal lineup in Stuttgart also features the ninth career meeting between Cilic and Troicki. Cilic is leading the head-to-head series 5-3, but they have never met on grass. The two competitors were familiar foes from 2008 through the start of 2011, but they have collided only once in more than four years. Cilic most recently beat Troicki 7-6(12), 6-4, 7-5, at the 2013 French Open. An especially tough test came on the Indoor hard courts of Zagreb, where the Croat survived at home 7-6(7), 6-7(8), 7-6(6).
Cilic appears to be finding at least some kind of form as he returns from an arm injury that plagued his conclusion to 2014 and the start of 2015. The reigning U.S. Open champion reached the fourth round of the French Open and so far in Stuttgart he has taken out Matthias Bachinger and Mischa Zverev (the latter in a third-set tiebreaker). Troicki booked his spot in the last four with victories over Borna Coric, Alexander Zverev, and Sam Groth, dropping just one set to Zverev in the process. The 28th-ranked Serb is 22-12 during what has been a resurgent 2015 campaign in the wake of a year-long suspension that ended last summer. Troicki will be competitive, but Cilic’s hard, flat ball-striking should make the difference on grass.
Pick: Cilic in 3
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Rafa;
Troicki.
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The ATP have changed their website, again……and it’s rubbish. Where one used to log on and see the livescores displayed on the Home page at the top, now you have to go to a special app to see livescores. The RG rubbish website disease must be catching………..
Shouldn’t the Queens draw be out by now?
headcase monfils game….3 double faults and 2 aces…..par for the course….!
rafa breaks with the help of a monfils double fault
set rafa 6-3, no aces so far today….!
Wow…Rafa playing aggressive…love it!!!
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rafa is 56% first serve this set to monfils 81% – he’d better do something about that pronto..
Great to see Rafa winning, my kid has performances at school all day so I’m just checking briefly
It’s hard to understand how he can hae 14 aces in one match and so far cero in this one. It’s only Rafa that does this.
Good luck Rafa!!
Yet Rafa won this match in 2 and had to go to 3 sets in spite of serving 14 aces.
Vamos!
Straight set win Rafa!
Vamos!
It’s been a while since Rafa played on a Sunday, welcome sight indeed.
Yeah, great to see Rafa play on a Sunday indeed!!! It would be interesting if he plays Cilic
great win for rafa. monfils had great serving numbers all set and rafa had just one break chance and took it. I’m only reeling off live scores so i don’t know if this was because of a headcase monfils moment or rafa being ruthless..
great to see him in the final….!
Monfils played a great match; Rafa had to play well to win. This wasn’t Gael the clown today.
so good to hear..nadline…..!
natashao can you tell us how rafa played second set please??
Rafa played great grass court match…hitting deep, moving well and playing serve volleys at key points…loved it…however, must admit La Monf looked kind of lost at times, making uncharacteristic UEs…Rafa killed him with short hits which Monfils missed at the net…love our new confident Rafa…hope he wins the title…with this attitude he sure has great chances for the title!
Vamos Rafa!
thanks natashao……so good to hear that rafa is playing with confidence again….!
he has quite the sense of humour no? losing on clay and winning on grass!
Bravo our grass court guru!!!
Love you Rafa ❤
Vamos Rafa!
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thanks for the match stats augusta!
does the same cretin design all the tennis sites BTW??
RG was an abomination…
ATP is rubbish….
Can’t wait to watch the replay.
Are u watch I g the replay on UTube or recording