It’s time to preview the top half of the men’s draw, set to play Monday in Paris.
Roger Federer has to be happy with his first three matches thus far. Other than a slight test from Albert Montanes in round two, he has advanced fairly easily and he seems to be gathering steam. He is moving very quickly on court, and conserving energy by not being pushed to five sets thus far. Even better are the opponents he may face this coming week. Julien Benneteau has been playing very well on clay as of late, but will not provide Federer with much of a challenge. He’s quite simply out of his league against the world number one. Federer dispatched Benneteau in straight sets in their only previous encounter last summer on hard courts, 6-3, 6-3.
It appears as though Federer will match up in the quarterfinals against Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who should take out American Robby Ginepri in the round of sixteen. Apparently Ginepri did not receive the memo that American players are not supposed to reach this stage on the clay in Paris! If Gonzalez does advance, he is 0-4 against Federer on clay.
In the other quarter on Monday, the winner between David Ferrer and Radek Stepanek has a very strong chance of making it on to face Roger in the semis. Normally I’d put my money on Ferrer to make it through a tough clay court match, however he has already been beaten by Stepanek on clay in Italy this year. The winner between the two will play either Ivan Ljubicic, who has certainly over-achieved by taking out No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko in a fabulous five-set match on Saturday, or Frenchman Gael Monfils, who also battled back in a five-set win over Jurgen Melzer.
Any way you look at this half of the draw however, and it would be very difficult to bet against Federer to emerge as the last man standing. He should be able to make it through to the final feeling fresh and confident to take on his arch nemesis on clay – Rafael Nadal. It is certainly the dream final we are all hoping for!
