Men's Tennis: Tuesday Monte Carlo Preview

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The clay court battles recommence Tuesday in France with four intriguing matchups highlighted among the second-round battles.

Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs. Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

Lopez is one of those guys Tipsarevic can't seem to beat, part of the perplexing explanation why the popular Serb hasn't won a career title in his five years on tour. Lopez owns a career 3-1 mark against Tipsy, but Janko's one win came in the pair's only clay-court meeting, a four-set, two-tie breaker affair at Roland Garros in 2009. Tipsarevic lost in this round two years ago, and Lopez is on a four-match losing streak at Monte Carlo dating back to 2006.

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs. Roger Federer (SUI)

This is a big pro-Federer advantage, 5-0 to be exact. The pair has never met on clay,  the surface that held Federer's least-impressive of the big three, although he is still 151-46 (.766) all-time on it. It's also Kohlschreiber's weakest surface, but far more noticeably so—he's won just 52 percent of his matches on the red stuff.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs. Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)

A matchup of former Top 10 players finds neither where he wants to be. Tsonga is 17th in the world, while Ljubicic has plummeted to 40th and is just 8-7 in 2011.  The pair is 2-2 all-time. Although Tsonga winning two months ago at Rotterdam, Ljubicic owns the only clay-court match between them, a two-set sweep at Madrid in 2009.

Ernests Gulbis (LAT) vs. Milos Raonic (CAN)

Gulbis just seems old, because debuted in 2004 and has played in nearly 200 career matches since then. The truth is, he's barely two years older than the fresh-faced Raonic, who has already matched him for career titles (one apiece). This pair has never met on court, but Raonic is in the midst of what Gulbis once felt—a buzz for the next "can't miss kid." At 34th in the world, Raonic is a blazing 17-5 this season, but this will be just his seventh match ever on clay (4-2 to date). 

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