Black Tennis Pros

METZ, France (AP)—Top-seeded Gael Monfils reached the Open de Moselle semifinals when Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia injured his right ankle and retired on Friday.

Next up will be fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who rallied to beat fourth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-3.

Petzschner served 16 aces but Gasquet managed to break him five times.

Monfils and Gasquet, both 23 and based in Switzerland, will meet in Metz for a third time. Both beat the other at the quarterfinal stage en route to reaching the final, Gasquet in 2004 and Monfils in 2005. Gasquet leads 2-1 overall.

Paul-Henri Mathieu was the third Frenchman to advance, reaching the semifinals for a second consecutive year with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over seventh-seeded Andreas Beck of Germany.

The third-seeded Mathieu hit 18 aces and converted three break points.

Mathieu is looking to reach his second final of the year after losing to Nikolay Davydenko in Hamburg. He will next play second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who beat Evgeny Korolev of Russia 6-1, 6-3.

Kohlschreiber broke Korolev four times and lost only seven points on his serve to oust the Russian in less than an hour.

Mathieu won his only previous meeting with Kohlschreiber, on clay in Gstaad six years ago.

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METZ, France — Top-seeded Gael Monfils reached the Open de Moselle quarter-finals by thrashing fellow Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday.

Following a first-round bye, Monfils fired 10 aces and broke Grosjean six times in their first matchup in three years. Former world No. 4 Grosjean, a wild-card entry ranked 1,147th, underwent shoulder surgery last December and won his first match this week since 2008 Wimbledon. He had four break points in the very first game but was unable to convert them.

Monfils will next face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who upset eighth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Ljubicic, who beat Monfils in the 2005 final, fought for nearly two hours before losing to Tipsarevic for the first time.

Fourth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany beat wild card Michael Llodra of France 7-6 (3), 6-3 in their second-round match.

Llodra missed a set point at 5-4 in the first set, then Petzschner raced 5-2 ahead in the second before closing the match on his second match point.

Petzschner reached the Metz quarter-finals for the second time, having advanced to the last eight on his tournament debut in 2003. He will take on Richard Gasquet, who fought more than two hours to edge Belgian Christophe Rochus 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

The Frenchman is trying to rediscover his form after he endured a ban of two and a half months for testing positive for cocaine at a tournament in Miami in March. Gasquet said he inadvertently ingested the drug by kissing a woman in a nightclub.

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The Press Association - Gael Monfils' hopes of repeating his French Open exploits of last year have been damaged after he was ruled out of action for up to a month with knee trouble.

The Frenchman will miss all the preparation tournaments for Roland Garros, which begins on May 24, as he is suffering from tendonitis in both knees.

Monfils, a semi-finalist at his home grand slam in 2008, should be fit for this year's event but his lack of practice on clay will not help his bid for the title.

The world number 10 was knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters in the first round by Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets earlier this week.

PARIS (AFP) — French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has pulled out of the ATP tournament in Barcelona which starts on Monday with pain in his right knee, his agent revealed on Friday.

It was due to be the world number 11's first claycourt engagement of the season.

Fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils also pulled out of the tournament on Friday due to tendinitis in his knees.

"Jo is training in Geneva at the moment and felt something in his right knee," said Tsonga's agent Morgan Menahem, who said his client would return at the tournament in Rome the week after next.

"He won't go to Barcelona as a precaution, but it's nothing to worry about."

Tsonga, who has won two tournaments this season - in Johannesburg and Marseille - had already withdrawn from this week's Monte Carlo Masters in order to keep fresh.

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Newly coiffed Frenchman Gael Monfils may be stylishly ready for summer, but he definitely wasn't ready for the red clay courts of the Masters Series Monte Carlo Tennis Tournament today.

For the man who reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2008, you would never have known that Monfils can find comfort in playing on clay. He appeared to be totally ill at ease with the surface. Additionally, Monfils had both knees taped.

Monfils' opponent, Serb Janko Tipsarevic, appeared to be much more prepared and took Monfils to task. In little more than an hour Tipsarevic defeated Monfils 6-3, 6-1.

With regard to his bandaged knees, Monfils told reporters "No (I was not bothered by the bandages). I'm playing with it and I'm getting used to it,"

"They keep my knees very tight. I have pain when I take them off. In fact, my knees hurt when I climb the stairs."

Well, looks like you've got plenty of time to rest them now.

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