Black Tennis Pros

Qualifier and world no. 151 Victor Hanescu of Romania will play Gilles Simon of France in Sunday's final as he was able to very quickly dispose of Gilles countryman, world no. 48 Gael Monfils, in their semi-final match today. Hanescu beat Monfils 6-2, 6-3 in little more than than an hour.

The 26-year-old Bucharest native improved his career record to 12-4 in his hometown tournament and he is the first Romanian to reach the final since the event began in 1993.

Today at 12:00 p.m. (Romanian time) on the Central Court at the BCR Open in Bucharest, Romania, world no. 48 Gael Monfils of France will be playing in the semi-finals. Just last month he had to withdraw from the U. S. Open because of a right hamstring injury, and a few weeks later he's in the semi-finals of another event. Additionally, he had to qualify for this event! Work it out Monfils!

In the quaterfinals Monfils played his French compatriot Marc Gicquel whom he defeated 6-4, 6-2. Monfils served up 12 aces against Gicquel during the 74 minute match yesterday. At 21 years of age this was his 21st ATP-level victory and the third occasion he has reached the last four at a tournament this year. Monfils will try to reach his second ATP final of the year after finishing runner-up in Poertschach (l. to Monaco) in May.

At the same time, it looks like Monfils will have a tall order to fill. His semi-final opponent will be 6'6" Victor Hanescu of Bucharest, Romania. The cheering will NOT be for Monfils at this one.

At the BCR Open in Bucharest, Romania, Frenchman Gael Monfils defeated Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina 6-4, 6-4.

Monfils is now scheduledto play fellow countryman Marc Gicquel in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Second-seeded Gael Monfils of France advanced to the second round of the BCR Open in Bucharest, Romania on Tuesday. Monfils beat Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-3, 7-6 (4).

World No. 48 Monfils' victory marked the second time in as many meetings that he upset Volandri, the world's 28th-ranked player.

The 21-year old Monfils was able to break Volandri five times for his 19th ATP-level win of the year.