France's Gael Monfils admitted he was delighted by his form on the grasscourts of Halle's ATP tournament after booking his quarter-final berth with a straight sets win on Thursday. The 24-year-old third seed saw off Croatia's Ivan Dodig with a 6-2, 6-3 second round win and in Friday's quarter-finals he will now play sixth-seeded German Florian Mayer.
The local favourite enjoyed a 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 win over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun and was impressive in the second round clash, with Mayer firing down 13 aces on the firm Halle turf which is favouring the big hitters. Monfils conceded he was not a natural on grass and was looking to improve his game with Wimbledon now ten days away.
"I really feel good, especially because I moved well," said Monfils, who beat compatriot Florent Serra in straight sets in the first round here. "I am happy about that, because I do have problems adjusting to grass. In the last ten days before Wimbledon, I want to improve my overall game further still - serve faster and stronger and work on my movement.
Local favourite Philipp Kohlschreiber awaits the winner after the German enjoyed a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) victory over seventh-seed Alexandr Dolgopolov, despite the Ukrainian hitting nine aces. In Friday's other quarter-finals, Germany's Philipp Petschner will play Canada's rising star Milos Raonic and top seed Tomas Berdych will play fifth seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia.