subject: Ljubicic And Monfils Were Entered Into Montpellier Final [print this page] Ljubicic And Monfils Were Entered Into Montpellier Final
Ivan Ljubicic, Spanish shot Albert Montanes 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in the semifinals of the ATP tournament in Montpellier, to reach his sixth career final soil.
Ljubicic French world number 17 will meet Gael Monfils in the final after leading all the French-match against a friend of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-4. Lyon won twice (2001, 2009), Ljubicic won in Metz in 2005 and reached the final in Marseille and Paris Masters in the same year.
The 31, a recent semifinalist in Stockholm and Beijing, continued his fine recent form with a comfortable win over Montanes, who may have been tired after expelling Russian top seed Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. Ljubicic, the former world number one three, sewed the first set in 27 minutes despite making only 45 percent of first serve points.
The Croatian's serve was much more potent in the second set, and he finished the match with 18 aces, but his inability to kill off his opponent allowed Montanes to drag the set to a tie-break.Ljubicic, however, believes he is not spending too much energy out sitting in Monfils before Sunday. "I feel good and are quite safe," he said. "I do not use too much energy today, thanks to the fact that I won in two sets, but in the past will not be easy ".
Tsonga, 13th in the world, beat Monfils in their last two meetings, twice in one semifinal. After losing the first set on a tiebreak, he drew level by winning the second, only to escape with Monfils match by breaking early in the third set, then hold for victory.Parisian Monfils, the number 15 world, just to compete in his second final this month after Tokyo, where he fell to world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain one.
Monfils, who was accused of lack of concentration in the past, suspects that his greater efforts to stay focused contributed to the fall of Tsonga. "I had a good solid game and really in the rhythm of things," he said.I don't know if my style of play bothered him (Tsonga) but I think he lacked some aggression, and that allowed me to develop some areas of my game."
