ATP Halle – Men’s Saturday Preview

Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Gael Monfils

Philipp Kohlschreiber ousted the defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets to advance to the semi-finals of the Gerry Weber Open.

The German made a solid match and everything seems easy on his game when his serve enters, he fired 14 aces and won 77% points behind the serve and didn’t faced a break point in his last two matches. Monfils on his first appearance in Halle reached the semi-finals beating another local player, Florian Mayer. The Frenchman improved from match to match and also relies on his powerful serve to win free points. Monfils leads the head-to-head with 3-0, he has a superior serve and moves well on court even on grass, he hits with a lot of power and has good retrieving skills.

Still Kohlschreiber seems to forget his clay form and plays with a lot of confidence and the main improvements in his game is his serve, if he will continue to serve like that then tie-breaks should be seen and there anything could happen, the German is at home and has a huge support.

Philipp Petzschner vs. Tomas Berdych      

Tomas Berdych moved another step closer to his second title as he beat Viktor Troicki to advance in semi-finals.

The first set was very even with both players keeping their serve but was the Czech who played better in key moments in tie-breaks and he already won three tie-breaks here. In the second set, Troicki failed to keep his composure while Berdych remained calm.

It will be the fifth meeting between them and the Czech took three of them with the German wining the only meeting on German soil in Munich. Petzschner reached the semi-finals of the Gerry Weber Open for the second straight year by beating eighth seeded MilosRaonic. He made a solid match behind the serve and he was a little bit unlucky not to finish in straight sets but bounced back well in decider. Petzschner won 82% points behind the serve and looks in good form but Berdych has good retrieving skills and with his deep ground strokes from the back of the court will force the German to play more defensively, also the Czech will enter with morale after he escaped through some difficulties matches in Halle and despite that Petzschner can be a tricky player.