Black Tennis Pros

DOHA (AFP) — Andy Roddick reached his first final since September when he carved a fine win in a high quality match against Gael Monfils in the semi-finals of the Qatar Open.

The former world number one from the United States also showed signs of evolving into a more measured and varied player during his 7-6 (7/1), 3-6, 6-3 win over the brilliant but inconsistent Frenchman.

"He has an interesting dynamic because he just begs you to come forward, and then he will come up with a passing shot," he said.

"So it's a matter of staying the course and not getting discouraged by it. It was a physical match but I have done a lot of hard work in close season.

"I wasn't in shape at the end of last year after various injuries and stiff, but now I feel better."

Monfils, who eliminated world number one Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Thursday, looked to have more than enough spectacular weapons to sweep Roddick aside too, with his blistering court coverage, excellent serving and blazing winners.

But the 22-year-old missed his chance to close out the first set when he was serving at 5-4, and having re-established a dominance in many of the rallies was unable to find the right shot at crucial moments in the final set.

Roddick, by contrast, made the most of his assets in resourceful fashion. He kept his head when Monfils was threatening to trample on him in the first set, making the younger player play plenty of balls in the crises moments, and in the tie-break was by far the more solid.

Monfils, more relaxed again, was at his spectacular best in the second set, when again he looked easily good enough to become a top five player.

One outrageous forehand topspin lob winner, made while he was hurtling sideways behind the baseline, contributed to his break of serve in the fourth game, and he consolidated that by holding serve all through with an 80 percent first delivery ratio.

But Monfils' shot choices became less convincing in the third set, and he also became more passive.

Roddick broke for 3-1, lost it and slipped to 3-3 as Monfils once again looked a better player when trying to come from behind. But the former US Open champion broke again for 5-3 when Monfils played a disappointingly indifferent service game.

Monfils looked capable of breaking back at the death but at 30-all selected a dropshot-lob combination when he seemed well placed to try to pass Roddick. The ball landed long, and Roddick closed the match out nervelessly in the next rally with a well-controlled net attack.

DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Frenchman Gael Monfils slammed seven aces and made three service breaks Thursday to knock world No. 1 and top-seed Rafael Nadal out of the Qatar Open .

Monfils, the tournament's fifth seed, disposed of the Spaniard in a little less than an hour and a half and moved on to the semifinals.

The Frenchman, who in three previous meetings had failed to win more than three games in a set against Nadal, produced some excellent tennis and broke the Nadal serve on three occasions in a match lasting 89 minutes.

It was Nadal's first defeat in a completed match prior to the semifinals since May 2008, when he fell to Juan-Carlos Ferrero in the second round at the ATP World Masters event in Rome.

The 22-year-old Monfils is bidding to reach his second final in Doha, having finished runner-up to Roger Federer in the title match in 2006.

BRISBANE, Australia: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recovered from a disastrous start to overcome Finland's Jarkko Nieminen and lead a posse of Frenchmen into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

Tsonga failed to win a game in the first set but came back to win the last two sets in tie-breaks to ensure four Frenchmen made the final eight.

He closed out the match 0-6, 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/5) to join Richard Gasquet, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Florent Serra in the quarter-finals.



Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will square off in the Doha quarterfinals on Thursday. The winner will meet either Andy Roddick or Victor Hanescu in the semis.

Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will do battle for the fourth time in their careers on Thursday when they meet in the quarterfinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Nadal holds a 3-0 edge in the head-to-head series, but only one of the victories came on hard courts. He won 6-3, 6-2 on the clay courts of Rome in 2005, 6-2, 6-2 on the Monte-Carlo dirt in 2006, and most recently 6-3, 6-2 at last season's Master Series Paris.

Monfils erased Jan Hernych in the first round but struggled with countryman Nicolas Devilder for two hours and seven minutes before outlasting him 7-5, 7-6(4).

DOUBLES

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
defeated by
Julie Ditty, FRA and Carly Gullickson, USA
6-1, 6-3


SINGLES

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs. Agustin Calleri, ARG


DOUBLES

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA and Marc Gicquel, FRA
defeated
Mario Ancic, CRO and Paul Henri Mathieu, FRA
7-5, 4-6 [10/4]


SINGLES

Gael Monfils, FRA defeated Jan Hernych, CZE
6-2, 6-2


DOUBLES

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Wesley Moodie, RSA
defeated
Igor Andreev, RUS and Jaroslav Levinsky,CZE
6-4, 2-6 [10/1]