Monfils Takes Care of Roddick; Sets Up Hewitt Meeting in Austria

Former World No. 1 and No. 4 seed Lleyton Hewitt headlines semifinal action against wild card Gael Monfils, while two of February’s ATP titlists Juan Monaco and Luis Horna also square off Friday in Portschach, Austria.

In the first singles match on Center Court, Lleyton Hewitt clashes with Gael Monfils for the second time in their careers. Hewitt won their only previous meeting in the second round of ATP Masters Series Paris in November 2004, which represented Monfils fifth career match at ATP-level.

Hewitt rose five places to No. 16 in the ATP Rankings, after reaching his first clay-court semifinal in three years at ATP Masters Series Hamburg (l. to Nadal) last week. The Australian has a 17-7 record in 2007, highlighted by capturing his 26th career title at Las Vegas (d. Melzer) in February. Hewitt has never won a clay-court title in his 10 seasons as a professional. He is making his second straight appearance in Pörtschach, having lost to Marcos Daniel in the first round in 2006. The 25-year-old Adelaide native has a 43-14-career record against French players.

Monfils is looking to reach his first ATP-level final since reaching the Doha final in January 2006. The Frenchman has dropped 29 places to No. 75 in the ATP Rankings this year. The 20-year-old has a 6-10 ATP-level record this season. Monfils, who is making his debut at the tournament this week, beat World No. 3 Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals to improve to 5-9 against opponents in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings.

In the second semifinal of the day, World No. 47 Juan Monaco of Argentina meets Luis Horna of Peru, currently No. 82 in the ATP Rankings, for the fifth time. Monaco has won the pair’s last two career meetings at Buenos Aires in February and Stuttgart last year.

Monaco has an 18-9 match record this year. He won his maiden career ATP title in Buenos Aires (d. di Mauro) in February and has also reached quarterfinals at Auckland (l. to Calleri), Costa do Sauipe (l. to Chela), Houston (l. to Blake) and Estoril (l. to Mathieu). The 23-year-old has beaten two seeded players this week, including No. 6 seed Jurgen Melzer in the first round and No. 1 and two-time defending champion Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. His victory over Davydenko represented his first success over a player currently in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings (now 1-13 lifetime).

Horna brings an 11-3 season record into his second ATP semifinal of the year. The 26-year-old clinched his second career ATP title at Vina del Mar (d. Massu) and also reached the Buenos Aires quarterfinals at Buenos Aires (l. to Monaco) in February. He is 14-7 overall year. Horna will be hoping to improve upon his semifinal exit at the tournament in 2006 (l. to Pavel). The Peruvian holds a 7-13 career record against players in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings.