Washington, D.C. QF previews and predictions: Monfils vs. Querrey, Paire vs. Zverev

Gael Monfils is finally back in businesses and has arguably been the best player so far in Washington D.C., but Sam Querey stands in his way of the semifinals on Friday. Alexander Zverev and Benoit Paire are also in action.

(8) Sam Querrey vs. (2) Gael Monfils

Monfils and Querrey will be going head-to-head for just the second time in their careers and for the first time in nine years when they finally meet again in the Citi Open quarterfinals on Friday night. Their only previous showdown came in 2007 on the clay courts of Poertschach, where Monfils prevailed 6-4, 7-5. The 17th-ranked Frenchman is still going strong at 29 years old, but what once looked like a World Tour Finals 2016 campaign has been slowed by injuries and illness. He had not won a single match since early May in Madrid when he arrived in Washington, D.C., but he has been simply outstanding through two matches. Monfils clobbered Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-2 in the second round before rolling over Borna Coric 6-2, 6-3 in 54 minutes on Thursday evening.

Querrey, of course, is coming off an incredible performance at Wimbledon; he stunned Novak Djokovic in the third round and eventually battled into his first major quarterfinal. The 29th-ranked American is also through to the quarters this week thanks to victories over Bjorn Fratangelo (in three sets) and Alexandr Dolgopolov (7-6(5), 6-3). With the way Monfils is serving right now, however, he can go toe to toe with Querrey in that department and he will obviously have a significant edge from the baseline. The No. 2 seed has won an amazing 44 of 47 first-serve points so far this week and Querrey’s return will be no match for those kinds of numbers.

Pick: Monfils in 2

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(7) Alexander Zverev vs. (4) Benoit Paire

How Paire managed to win his third-round contest with Gilles Muller late on Thursday night will go down as the biggest mystery of the week and perhaps one of the biggest mysteries of the entire season. The 24th-ranked Frenchman trailed 0-40 while serving at 5-5 in the third set and at 30-40 appeared to lose the point–and the game–three different ways. But Paire somehow tracked down a Muller drop-shot, also retrieved a perfect lob by the Luxembourgian, and then won the point when a backhand that appeared to going well long was left by Muller only to land on the baseline. Paire eventually held serve and battled back from a 4-2 deficit in the final-set tiebreaker by winning the last five points of the match, two thanks to shots off the net cord.

Seemingly inspired this week after being named to France’s Olympic team in place of Richard Gasquet, the No. 4 seed preceded his 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4) victory over Muller with a 6-0, 7-5 defeat of American qualifier Jared Donaldson. Zverev, also a quarterfinalist in Washington, D.C. last summer, has advanced by taking out Taylor Fritz (6-4, 6-2) and Malek Jaziri (6-2, 5-7, 6-2). The 19-year-old German is an awesome 31-17 for the season, which features runner-up finishes in Nice and Halle. Although Paire appears to be motivated at this tournament, he will not be able to play with fire against an in-form and ultra-talented Zverev like he did versus Muller.

Pick: Zverev in 2

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