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  • Poertschach Semifinal: Ivan Ljubicic vs. Juan Monaco

    5/23/08 1:32 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - Juan Monaco is the only play who has not dropped a single set in Poertschach en route to the semifinals, but that could change when he faces Ivan Ljubcic, who has already survived two three-set battles.

    The seeds held form in the bottom half of the Poertschach draw, as second-seeded Juan Monaco and No. 3 seed Ivan Ljubcic will square off in the semifinals on Friday. It will be the second head-to-head meeting between the two players and the first encounter came on the grandest stage of clay-court tennis. Ljubicic got the better of Monaco at the 2006 French Open, coming back from two sets down to win a third-round battle 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

    This time around, however, the Argentine looks poised for revenge. So far this week Monaco has eased past Carlos Berlocq in the first round when his compatriot retired in the first set, steamrolled Jiri Vanek in straight sets, and outdueled Robby Ginepri 7-5, 7-6(3) in the quarterfinals. Those wins are continuing Monaco's stellar--but unspectacular--clay-court record in 2008 that includes a runner-up performance in Vina Del Mar (injury prevented him from contesting the final) and a quarterfinal appearance in Valencia. Combine those results with a breakout 2007 campaign and Monaco is up to a career-high ranking at No. 14 in the world.

    Ljubicic has not had it quite so easy this week, as qualifier Jan Hajek extended him to three sets in round one. The Croat next got by Ivan Navarro in straight sets, but he followed that up with a grueling three-set battle against Daniel Gimeno-Traver in which Ljubcic had to save six match points before advancing 8-6 in a deciding tiebreaker. It's to be expected that Ljubicic has endured far greater struggles than Monaco this week on the red clay of Poertschach. Ljubucic handles himself just fine on the surface (he is a former French Open semifinalist but came into Poertschach with just a 2-3 record on the slow stuff this season), but for Monaco it is his surface of choice.

    The slow court speed should prove to be Ljubcic's undoing. Monaco can slug it out all day from the baseline to begin with, but he will be much lighter on his legs on Friday anyway, having spent far less time on the court than Ljubcic. The big man will hang around for a while, but look for Monaco to pull away and race into Saturday's title match.

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