Gerry Weber Open 2011: Gael Monfils and Lleyton Hewitt Advance to Quarters

Third-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils advanced to the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, after he dismissed Croatia’s Ivan Dodig 6-2, 6-3 Thursday.

Monfils relied on some strong serving, winning 72 percent of his service points, compared to Dodig’s 48 percent.

Although he won the majority of points on his serve, he still dropped a service game. His returning made up for that, though, because he broke Dodig five times in the match.

The Frenchman’s next opponent is the sixth-seeded German Florian Mayer, who outlasted Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4.

Lu, ranked 53rd, lost despite winning more points than Mayer. The two players broke each other once, but the German was able to win the set that mattered.

Mayer’s match against Monfils will be a tough one for the German, as he hasn’t beaten him in two tries. Both of those matches have gone the distance, however, with Monfils winning their last encounter at the 2010 Mercedes Cup.

Australia’s former No. 1 and Gerry Weber Open defending champion, Lleyton Hewitt, continued his comeback from injury by defeating 51st-ranked Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-4.
Hewitt won 84 percent of his first-serve points, but he got only 57 percent of those serves in play. Seppi made life difficult for Hewitt on his second serves, limiting him to winning 50 percent of those points.

If the Italian gave Hewitt problems on his second delivery, the Australian returned them with interest. Seppi won 38 percent of his second-serve points, and Hewitt broke him three times.

The Australian’s next opponent is the 49th-ranked Philipp Kohlschreiber, today’s winner against seventh-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Hewitt has a 2-1 record against Kohlschreiber, although the last time they played was at the 2006 Tennis Channel Open.

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