French Open 2011: Roger Federer Defeats Gael Monfils in Straight Sets

While the early favorite heading into the 2011 French Open was a virtual tiebreak between "King of Clay" Rafael Nadal and the streaking Novak Djokovic, one player that is hard to imagine being overlooked is Roger Federer.

Although his results haven't been up to par this season, Federer is arguably the greatest player of all time and deserves his share of the attention. 

For the first time in a number of years, however, that has not been the case this year at Roland Garros. 

No longer was Federer amongst the very slim list of favorites to begin with, and unlike the women's draw that is completely wide open, the men's field normally dwindles down to the early favorites in later stages. 

As we have seen since the tournament began, Nadal has looked shaky at best, Djokovic has breezed through his draw (with the exception of Juan Martin del Potro) and Federer has played the best of any player in the field (hasn't dropped a set). 

Gael Monfils, on the other hand, has struggled to fight his nerves while playing in front of his home crowd. Unlike Federer, who easily dismissed his fellow Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka in straight sets in the Round of 16, Monfils had to labor through five tough sets in order to reach the quarterfinals against David Ferrer.

Regardless of previous rounds, however, the winner of the Federer-Monfils match is set to face Novak Djokovic, who is undefeated this season (42-0) and has reached the semifinals following Fabio Fognini's withdraw from the tournament. 

Stay tuned for the latest news, updates and results regarding the match (especially if you don't have access to the Tennis Channel), and hopefully it's a great day for tennis on the red clay at Roland Garros!