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  • Warsaw Semifinal: Juan Monaco vs. Tommy Robredo

    6/14/08 5:01 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - The bottom half of the Warsaw draw ultimately went according to the seeds, as both Tommy Robredo and Juan Monaco have advanced to the semifinals. It should be a high-quality showdown when they square off on Saturday afternoon.

    Somewhat surprisingly it will be just the second head-to-head meeting between Juan Monaco and Tommy Robredo when the two players do battle in the Warsaw semifinals. Monaco won their only previous encounter last year on the clay courts of Kitzbuhel 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

    They are separated in age by a mere two years--Robredo is 26 and Monaco 24--but the Argentine seems to be on the rise while Robredo appears to have plateaued or perhaps even slipped a bit. Both, however, have always been and remain rock solid on the red stuff. Monaco has consistently posted strong results on clay dating back to last season and although he drew a tough first-round matchup against Robin Soderling at the French Open and promptly got blown out, he is back on track in Warsaw. After breezing past Jerzy Janowicz in round one, Monaco beat Florent Serra in straight sets and followed that up with a 6-4, 6-3 quarterfinal rout of Marcel Granollers.

    Robredo has been around a lot longer than his opponent and while his hard-court prowess is declining rapidly, he remains a force on clay. The Spaniard reached the semifinals in Valencia, the quarterfinals in both Barcelona and Rome, and scored outstanding wins over Stanislas Wawrika and Robin Soderling in Monte-Carlo. He did not enjoy a particularly good French Open, getting destroyed by Radek Stepanek after winning two matches, but like Monaco he is back on track in Warsaw. Robredo first beat Michal Przysiezny in straight sets, was up a set on Wayne Odesnik when the American retired, and then survived Oscar Hernandez 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

    As the season turns to grass and hard courts, this could be Robredo's last real opportunity to stock up on rankings points, whereas Monaco is showing he can also compete with most of the top players on hard courts. If Robredo plays like there's no tomorrow as a result, that could turn out to be the difference because on paper very little separates these two men. The only thing that's certain is that this will be a baseline battle throughout the entire match, and a near certainty is that it will be a highly-competitive match. Count on this one going the distance.

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