Roger Federer and Juan Monaco will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers and the third time this season when they clash during quarterfinal action at the BNP Paribas Masters on Friday.
Federer has won all of their previous encounters, including two on hard courts earlier this year. The world No. 4 prevailed 7-6(4), 6-4 at the Sony Ericsson Open then absolutely destroyed Monaco 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 in round four of the U.S. Open.
Monaco will be hard-pressed to turn the tide because he is by no means catching his opponent at the right time. Federer is coming off a second consecutive Basel title and he has been rolling in Paris. The fourth-ranked Swiss booked his spot in the quarters with blowout wins over Adrian Mannarino and Richard Gasquet.
At the same time, though, Monaco is playing his best tennis of the season. The 34th-ranked Argentine finished runner-up last week in Valencia and he has bounced back incredibly well despite having virtually no rest in between tournaments. Monaco trounced Donald Young and Gilles Simon then got past Mardy Fish via third-set retirement after saving two match points.
A slow hard court will help Monaco and he should at least be able to get more games in two sets than he did in three sets at the U.S. Open. Nonetheless, his run is going to come to an end as Federer should cruise with minimal trouble
Looks like Rog is having a better end to the year:). Recharging batteries for a month was a good decision.
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