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7/18/10 2:49 AM | Ricky Dimon
Albert Montanes and Gael Monfils will be squaring off in the Stuttgart final on Sunday. Montanes is bidding for his fifth career ATP title while Monfils is in search of his third triumph.
Montanes and Monfils will be meeting for the second time in their careers when they do battle in the final of the Mercedes Cup on Sunday.
Far more is at stake this time around. Their previous encounter came in the 2005 Bucharest opening round, with Montanes prevailing 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Both players have come a long way in five years. Five of Montanes eight ATP final appearances have come since that time, and he has won four of those. Monfils has been to six title matches since the start of 2006, but he won only a single time during that span (Metz 2009).
Despite his woeful 2-7 career record in ATP title matches, Monfils is showing the kind of mental strength this week that suggests he is ready to win a third. The 17th-ranked Frenchman has won all three of his Stuttgart matches in three sets, taking out Pablo Andujar, Florian Mayer, and Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Having recently won a huge Davis Cup rubber over David Ferrer in five sets, Monfils is 23-11 for the season and producing some of his best tennis.
Montanes, however, should be Monfils' toughest test of the tournament--and the No. 3 seed's first seeded opponent. The 30th-ranked has always been a force on clay and he recently won a title in Estoril. Maintaining his fine form in Stuttgart, Montanes has dispatched Philipp Petzschner, Juan Ignacio Chela, No. 2 seed Jurgen Melzer, and No. 4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, losing just two sets in the process.
Monfils is the favorite on paper, but Montanes is a clay-court wizard and the No. 5 seed has a slight edge in both current form and history in title matches. Expect an entertaining three-setter with Montanes coming out on top.
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