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  • Tipsarevic and Mathieu fight for a spot in the semifinals

    10/3/08 11:05 AM | David Cox
    - Metz 2008 has seen a fest of upsets, leaving Paul-Henri Mathieu as the highest remaining seed in the draw. On Friday he bids to make his third semifinal of the year against Janko Tipsarevic.

    Mathieu had quite a poor summer by his standards after a decent first six months, making the last 16 in Melbourne and Paris. He found the groove in the oppressive humidity of Bejing taking out Davydenko and Kiefer on the way to the Olympic quarters and it took eventual silver medalist Fernando Gonzalez to stop him.

    He's yet to be tested this week, easing past two lower-ranked French players without dropping more than six games.

    However, Tipsarevic has won his last two matches with the Frenchman, 7-6, 6-4 indoors two years ago and then unusually a win on the clay of Monte Carlo six months ago, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. He leads the head-to-head series 2-1.

    Tipsarevic will look to pepper the Mathieu forehand on the fast indoor surface in Metz. The Frenchman uses quite an extreme grip, a technical defect which can be exploited on the quicker courts where there's less time to adjust. Both men possess formidable backhands; Tipsarevic's is lethal when going down the line, and it is his trademark shot.

    Prediction: Tipsarevic to nail another upset in 3

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