Rafael Nadal- Getty Images

Top Six Seeds to Battle for Monte-Carlo Crown

April 24, 2008

There’s an intense buzz in the air above the Monte-Carlo Country Club as the top six seeds are among the eight players remaining in the hunt for the shield at the Masters Series Monte-Carlo presented by ROLEX, taking place this week in Monaco.

Top seed Roger Federer (Switzerland), No. 2 Rafael Nadal (Spain), No. 3 Novak Djokovic (Serbia), No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko (Russia), No. 5 David Ferrer (Spain), and No. 6 David Nalbandian (Argentina) each won their opening two matches to reach the quarter-finals. Joining them in the round of eight are a pair of unseeded players: American Sam Querrey and Russian Igor Andreev.

The bottom half of the draw is highlighted by a blockbuster quarter-final featuring the two Spaniards. Nadal is unquestionably the King of Clay, having won this event the last three years, but Ferrer captured the Valencia crown last week and has proven in the past he is great on clay. The two haven’t faced one another since the end of last season, when Ferrer defeated Nadal twice to close out the season. However, Nadal has won their last three meetings on clay and will be looking to move one step closer to his fourth straight Monte-Carlo title with a victory.

The winner of that match will face one of the Russians in the next round as Davydenko and Andreev are set to battle for a spot in the final four. Davydenko reached the quarters with a come-from-behind victory over No. 16 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) while Andreev recorded triumphs over Spain’s Nicolas Almagro and countrymen Mikhail Younzhy, the No. 8 seed, and Dmitry Tursunov.

Meanwhile, the Mighty Fed, who came into the event fresh off a victory on clay last week at the Estoril Open in Portugal, will face Nalbandian for a spot in the semis. Their career head-to-head record is tied at eight wins apiece, but Nalbandian won their last two meetings with upset victories at the final two Masters Series events to end 2007. It’s been an up-and-down tournament for Federer thus far as he squeaked out a third-set tiebreak victory over qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) in his first match and then handily dispatched Frenchman Gael Monfils in two sets. Nalbandian has had an easier time in his two contests, first defeating Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus in straight sets before crushing No. 12 seed Tommy Robredo (Spain) 6-1, 6-0.

The final quarter-final match sees Djokovic taking on Querrey. The draw for Djokovic looked tough as he had Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic in the second round and phenom Andy Murray (Scotland) in the third, but the young Serbian cruised through both matches while dropping a total of only 10 games. Querrey has also been magnificent while posting a pair of upset victories over No. 10 seed Carlos Moya (Spain) in their opening match and No. 7 Richard Gasquet (France) in the third round.