Ljubicic Stops Davydenko to Face Monfils for Metz Title

No.3 seed Ivan Ljubicic will attempt to snap winless 2005 run in finals when he meets French teen Gael Monfils for the Metz crown on Sunday.

The Croatian Ljubicic advanced to his fifth final of the season following an easy 6-1, 6-4 victory over top seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Ljubicic unleashed 10 aces and never faced a break point in the one-hour, four-minute match against the 24-year-old Russian.

“Today I impressed myself, I don’t think I could have played any better,” said Ljubicic. “I felt the ball great from the beginning and after I broke him I wanted to hit harder and harder. I wanted to see where my limits were, but everything was going in, no matter how hard I was hitting. I just felt unbelievable.”

19-year-old Monfils needed 2 hours, 9 minutes to advance to his second career final, defeating Slovak Dominik Hrbaty 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-2.

The teenager, who lifted his first career trophy earlier this year in Sopot, was a quarterfinalist in Metz in 2004 when he fell to countryman Richard Gasquet.

Added Monfils: “I am very happy, being in a final doesn’t happen everyday. I want to thank my team because I have been working hard since quite some time now."