Ivo Karlovic and Gael Monfils Fire into Semifinal at Nottingham
Fourth-seeded Croatian Ivo Karlovic continued his title defense at The Slazenger Open on Thursday, after defeating No. 7 seed Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in one hour and 51 minutes. The 29-year-old Karlovic, who entered the Nottingham grass-court tournament with 447 aces from 29 matches this year, has now hit a further 61 aces in three matches en route to the semifinals.
Karlovic improved to 17-15 on the season, highlighted by a semifinal run at Rotterdam in February (l. to Llodra) and quarterfinal finish last week at Queen’s Club (l. to Nadal). The 6’10” Croat has a 10-1 lifetime record in Nottingham. Last year he beat Frenchman Arnaud Clement for the title. Karlovic has a 29-14 career mark on grass courts.
Seppi, who had previously beaten the 6’10” Croatian at Barcelona in 2007, dropped to 19-17 on the season. The World No. 30 achieved a career-best ATP Masters Series showing last month in Hamburg by reaching the semifinals (l. to Federer) and followed it up with a quarterfinal performance at Poertschach (l. to Davydenko). Two years ago, the 24-year-old reached the Nottingham semifinals (l. to Bjorkman). He has an 11-10 career record on grass courts.
Gael Monfils will hope to replicate his 2008 ATP Masters Series Monte-Carlo win over Ivo Karlovic in the semifinals, after the eighth-seeded Frenchman overcame American qualifier Vince Spadea 7-6(4), 6-2 in 77 minutes on Centre Court.
The 21-year-old Roland Garros semifinalist improved to 11-8 lifetime on grass-courts and 13-8 on the season. The 33-year-old Spadea, who is working with Italian Davide Sanguinetti during the grass-court season, also reached the Nottingham quarterfinals on his debut in 1996 (l. to Woodbridge).
Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, the No. 3 seed, advanced to the semifinals for the first time this season as he defeated French No. 5 seed Gilles Simon 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in one hour and 35 minutes. He converted on four of his five break point chances, while Simon went three for eight on his opportunities.
Verdasco, whose previous best finish on grass were quarterfinal efforts at Halle and 's-Hertogenbosch four years ago, now improves to a 17-11 career record on grass. He also reached the Wimbledon fourth round in 2006 (l. to Stepanek).
The 24-year-old attained a career-high ranking of No. 20 last week following solid results during the European clay court circuit. He reached the quarterfinals at Valencia and Masters Series Hamburg, and the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Verdasco will attempt to reach an ATP final for the first time since last October in St. Petersburg (l. to Murray) when he faces Croatian teenager Marin Cilic. The Spaniard booked his place in that final courtesy of a straight-sets semifinal win over Cilic.
Cilic eased past 2001 Nottingham champion Thomas Johansson 6-1, 6-2 in just 54 minutes in his quarterfinal match. The 19-year-old, who is making his Nottingham debut this week, has an 18-15 season record. He reached the Chennai semifinals and Australian Open fourth round in the first month of the season, and afterwards ranked a career-high No. 38 on January 28.
Article from www.atptennis.com
Photo AFP/DDP
