Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad—Switzerland

Former top 10 player Richard Gasquet, and recent Stuttgart champ Albert Montanes advanced to the quarterfinals in Gstaad on Wednesday.

Gasquet, who needed three sets to defeat Daniel Brands of Germany 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0, used nine aces and 83 percent of his first serve points won to capture his 22nd match victory of the season.

Returning to action this week after missing Wimbledon with a back injury, Gasquet will next face No. 4 seed Montanes, who defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Montanes continued to enjoy a fantastic year on Tour which has seen him capture two Tour titles. After losing the first set to his No. 273 ranked opponent, Montanes crushed the inexperienced Austrian by breaking serve on five of eight opportunities.

Improving to 28-16 on the season, Montanes will attempt to win his first match against Gasquet during their second career meeting on Friday.

Elsewhere, Daniel Gimeno-Traver advanced to his second quarterfinal of the season by disposing of Andreas Beck 7-5, 6-4 in 85 minutes.

Gimeno-Traver will await the winner of Igor Andreev or Marco Chiudinelli for a place in the semifinals.

ATP Studena Croatia Open—Umag

Posting his second quarterfinal result of the season, No. 7 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov defeated hometown favorite Franco Skugor 7-6 (1), 6-3 during second-round action in Umag on Wednesday.

Continuing his breakout year on the circuit, Dolgopolov used his quick-draw groundgame to overpower his lower ranked opponent. Winning 69 percent of his total serve points, Dolgopolov saved all five break points against his delivery, while converting on two of five break point chances.

Winning his 11th match of the season, the young Ukrainian will next face either No. 4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero or Pablo Cuevas. Ferrero, a former world No. 1 and French Open champ, has enjoyed a resurgent year which has feature two tournament titles.

Elsewhere, top seed and defending champ Nikolay Davydenko will attempt to change his recent losing streak when he faces Stephane Robert of France. Failing to win consecutive Tour matches since February, Davydenko’s loss of form could largely be attributed to the wrist injury he sustained in Rotterdam.

The Russian also recently parted ways with his brother Eduardo as his full-time coach.

The day’s final match will feature Simone Bolelli vs. Juan Ignacio Chela.

Farmers Classic—Los Angeles, California

Defending champ Sam Querrey will see his first action of this year’s US Open Series on Wednesday against Kevin Anderson.

Entering the event as the No. 2 seed, Querrey has enjoyed a terrific year on the circuit which has featured taking home titles on all three major surfaces.

Leading Anderson 2-0 in career head-to-head, Querrey will begin his long string of tour action, which will take him from Los Angeles all the way to the end of the US Open.

Defeating Carsten Ball in last year’s final, Querrey holds a 6-2 record at the event.

Elsewhere, Ryan Sweeting will take on No. 3 seed Marcos Baghdatis, No. 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic will battle Somdev Devvarman, and Rainer Schuettler will face Robby Ginepri.

Top seed Andy Murray will go up against Tim Smyczek during Thursday evening’s night session.

For updated scores from all of today’s matches, click the live-scores section at the top of the page, or for live streaming of today’s action, click here.

Tournament Previews:

The second leg of the US Open Series will kick off this week in Los Angeles, California. After a successful first week in Atlanta, the Tour will head to Hollywood where the heat off the hard-courts will remain a significant factor.

For one reason or another, the ATP still has clay-court events on the docket during the US Open build up, with Croatia and Gstaad entertaining two tournaments in Europe.

Let’s begin our weekly trek through the tournament draws with the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles. The time zone shift of this event will become a problem on the eastern seaboard, but the on-court action should make up for the late night coverage. Top seed Andy Murray, who was originally slated to make his first appearance of the hard-court season in Toronto, has opted to begin his hard-court preparation early in Los Angeles. Something tells me that the tournament officials threw Murray a hefty appearance fee after Novak Djokovic withdrew due to personal reasons.

Murray has been training hard in Miami—his typical training ground post-Wimbledon—and the heat of LA shouldn’t affect his performance. One would like to think that Murray will be looking to light up his first hard-court event of the summer, considering that he has yet to take home a tournament title this year. That to me is a very telling stat, and if Murray wants to be taken seriously as a US Open contender, his results over the next month will be significant.

Murray will have to contend with the likes of defending champ Sam Querrey, No. 3 seed Marcos Baghdatis, and No. 4 seed Feliciano Lopez if he’s to capture his first Tour title of the season. Latvian Ernests Gulbis is also back in action, and depending on his form, the powerful youngster could become a force this week. Gulbis was the talk of the tennis world heading into the French Open, but a leg injury during his first-round match at Roland Garros derailed his momentum.

Let’s not forget about Mardy Fish, who captured his second consecutive Tour title in Atlanta last week, and will be riding a 10-match winning streak. I’d be surprised if Fish took home his third title in LA, considering the fatigue that he will be carrying from Atlanta. Defeating John Isner in a third set tiebreak on Sunday, Fish was hooked up to IVs after the match because of the debilitating conditions.

The winner of this week’s LA Open will pocket $111,950 in prize money, and 250 ATP World Tour points.

For those of who can afford to head over to the Gstaad event this week, consider yourselves lucky. A hot spot for winter time skiing, Gstaad hosts summer time car racing and of course a tennis event.

Boasting a respectable field, the Gstaad event will feature Mikhail Youzhny as the top seed. Youzhny has poured in a stellar year, which has been highlighted by a victory in Munich, and finals appearances in Dubai and Rotterdam.

The crafty Russian will be joined by recent Bastad champ Nicolas Almagro, No. 3 seed Thomaz Bellucci, and recent Stuttgart champ Albert Montanes.

Other notables in the field will include: Richard Gasquet, who is returning from a back injury, Tommy Robredo, and Hamburg champion Andrey Golubev.

Gasquet remains one of the cleanest ball strikers on the circuit, while Golubev will attempt to continue his fine form from his maiden title in Germany.

Moving up 45 spots to No. 37  in the rankings with his first career title, Golubev will face countryman Yuri Schukin in first-round action.

The champion in Gstaad will earn € 68,450, and 250 ATP World Tour points.

The week’s third event will take place in the beautiful beach destination of Umag, Croatia.

Hoping to break out of his recent slump, defending champ Nikolay Davydenko will enter the 28-man field as the only top 10 player in the draw. Not advancing past the second-round of a Tour event since February, Davydenko has been hampered by a left wrist injury this season. Parting ways with his long time coach and brother last week, Davydenko finds himself in need of victorious week.

Davydenko will have to contend against an eager field which will feature: Jurgen Melzer, Ivan Ljubicic, and Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Melzer, who lost to Golubev in the Hamburg final on Sunday, will enter Umag in the best form his career. Ljubicic’s level of play has dipped since his victory at Indian Wells, but he will undoubtedly be carried by his hometown supporters. Ferrero, who made the finals last year, will look to continue his fine clay form in 2010. The Spaniard has captured two titles on the season, while advancing to three quarterfinals (or better) all on clay.

Other notables in the draw will feature: Alexandr Dolgopolov, Juan Ignacio Chela, and Potito Starace.

The winner of this week’s 250 point ATP World Tour event will take home € 72,150 in prize money.

With the previews for this week set in place, let’s now take a look at day one results form the respective three tournaments.

Farmers Classic—Los Angeles, California

Day one action on the campus of UCLA will feature four singles matches. The day’s most anticipated match will likely unfold between Lukas Lacko and No. 5 seed Ernests Gulbis. Both players are exquisite shot makers, with Lacko remaining confident after his second-round victory over Lleyton Hewitt in Atlanta. Gulbis, who flourished during the clay season, will be making his first appearance on Tour since sustaining a leg injury at the French Open.

Gulbis will be the favorite in this one, but I wouldn’t discount Lacko’s ability. For those of you who have never seen Lacko play, his effortless forehand and uplifted demeanor bring forth a unique dynamic to any event.

Elsewhere, recently married Janko Tipsarevic will battle Santiago Giraldo, No. 7 seed Horacio Zeballos will face Rainer Schuettler, and Xavier Malisse will take on Dudi Sela.

Top seed Andy Murray will be in action later in the week.

Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad—Switzerland

No. 5 seed Tommy Robredo became another early round loser on the ATP today during the first-round of the Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad.

Falling in three sets to Frederico Gil, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, Robredo lost his third consecutive match on Tour. After capturing the first set on the strength of one break of serve, Robredo lost control of the contest during the latter stages of the second set, before being stream-rolled in set three.

Gil, who has enjoyed his best career results on the clay-courts of Europe, won 71 percent of his second serve points, while breaking Robredo’s serve on four of 11 opportunities.

Improving to 9-9 on the season, Gil will next face either Hamburg champ Andrey Golubev or Yuri Schukin.

Elsewhere, Richard Gasquet returned to competition in style on Monday with a straight set win over Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 6-4. Suffering from a back injury before the start of Wimbledon, Gasquet advanced to the second-round by winning 95 percent of his second serve points and striking two aces.

Winning his 21st match of the year, Gasquet will next face Daniel Brands, who defeated Peter Luczak 6-4, 7-5.

Other completed results on day one action included:

Alexandr Sadecky defeating Yann Marti 7-5, 1-6, 6-0, Michael Lammer over the flashy Dustin Brown 7-5, 7-5, and Andreas Haider-Maurer dismissing Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

Albert Montanes and Igor Andreev were first-round winners on Sunday.

ATP Studena Croatia Open—Umag

No. 7 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov survived a challenging first-round encounter to prevail over Paolo Lorezni of Italy in Croatia on Monday. Losing the second set after serving for the match at 5-4, Dolgopolov persevered through at tight third set to advance to the second-round, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3).

With both players serving and volleying to prevent long baseline exchanges from taking place, the two hour and 36 minute contest would feature seven aces from Dolgopolov to three aces from Lorenzi.

Improving his ranking almost 100 spots from the beginning of the year, Dolgopolov will next face either Franco Skugor or Filippo Volandri from Italy.

The day’s final match will feature Juan Ignacio Chela vs. Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

For updated scores from all of today’s matches, click the live-scores section at the top of the page, or for live streaming of today’s action, click here.

World No. 2 Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from next week’s LA Open in California due to person reasons. Reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon earlier this month, Djokovic is next slated to see action at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Radek Stepanek, who recently married ex-Tour player Nicole Vaidisova, also pulled out of the 28-man field with a knee injury.

World No. 4 Andy Murray has taken a late wildcard and will become the tournament’s top seed. Originally scheduled to make his first appearance of the summer in Canada, Murray will fly to LA from Miami to begin his US Open preparations.

Defending champ Sam Querrey will also be on hand as the No. 2 seed of the event.

Taking place on the stunning campus of UCLA, the Farmers Classic continues to bring forth high quality action from the ATP World Tour.

Two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling has withdrawn from the upcoming Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. due to person reasons.

Losing in the finals of Bastad last week, Soderling has enjoyed a productive year which has seen him rise to the No. 5 position in the world. Andy Roddick, Tomas Berydch, Marin Cilic, and Lleyton Hewitt will highlight the 48-man field.

International German Open—Hamburg

Recent Stuttgart champ Albert Montanes lost a nail-biting match to countryman Pere Riba in Hamburg on Wednesday.

Falling in three tight sets 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4), Montanes held his nerve until the deciding tiebreak, but showed the inevitable wear-and-tear from capturing a Tour title last week.

Dropping to 26-15 on the season, Montanes will now regroup and prepare for next week’s Gstaad event in Switzerland.

Riba, a 22-year-old qualifier ranked No. 79 in the world, won back-to-back matches on the circuit for the first time this season, and will next face Italian Potito Starace for a place in the quarterfinals.

Elsewhere, No. 3 seed Jurgen Melzer blew past Argentine Eduardo Schwank 6-4, 6-1. Sustaining the form that took him to the semifinals of the French Open in June, Melzer won 94 percent of his first serve points, while breaking his opponent on five of six occasions.

Recording his 31st match win of the season in 55-minutes, Melzer will next face No. 13 seed Philip Petzschner or Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Melzer and Petzschner won the Wimbledon doubles title earlier this month.

Andreas Seppi recorded back-to-back wins for only the second time this season by defeating Michael Berrer of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Once ranked as high as No. 27 in the world, Seppi currently occupies the No. 70 position on the Tour rankings. The 26-year-old Italian will next face countryman Fabio Fognini for a place in the quarterfinals.

Other matches that will take place on day three action in Hamburg will feature:

No. 5 seed and recent Bastad champ Nicolas Almagro vs. Denis Istomin, No. 7 seed Thomaz Bellucci vs. Simon Bolelli, No. 10 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. Juan Ignacio Chela, and No. 12 seed Victor Hanescu vs. Julian Reister.

Atlanta Tennis Championships—Georgia

Record-holding American John Isner will make his first trip back to the singles court on Wednesday in Atlanta when he faces Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

Traveling around the United States to discus his epic match against Nicolas Mahut, Isner will begin what he hopes is a successful beginning to the US Open Series.

Reaching the fourth-round of the US Open last year after defeating Andy Roddick in the third-round, Isner will look to ignite his march on the hard-courts of North America with his menacing serve.

Never facing his left-handed opponent, Isner will have to contend with the booming serve of Muller, while combating the emotional fatigue from his post-Wimbledon journey.

An upset could be in the making here, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Isner moved on in straight sets.

Elsewhere, the American contingent will aim to propel three other players into the quarterfinals when Horacio Zeballos faces Taylor Dent, Robby Ginepri takes on Mardy Fish, and Michael Russell goes up against Rainer Schuettler.

Dent dismissed James Blake in an entertaining match on Tuesday evening and will next face clay-court comfortable Zeballos for a place in the quarterfinals. Zeballos has a consistent game, but does not have the adequate firepower to be as dangerous on hard-courts.

Good friends Ginepri and Fish will lock horns for the fifth time, with Ginepri leading the pair’s head-to-head 3-1.

Fish has rededicated himself to a strict fitness regime, and is currently riding a six match winning streak. Winning the Newport title two week’s ago, Fish also advanced to the finals of the Queen’s Club event before Wimbledon.

Ginepri, who reached the fourth-round of Roland Garros in May, won this event last year when it was held in Indianapolis.

I like Fish in this one, and I suspect that the American will have a great summer moving forward.

Tour bulldog Russell will take to the court later today in a grinding affair against Schuettler. With both players exhibiting similar counter-punching traits, don’t expect anything short of a long match between these two.

Russell has enjoyed some moderate success late in his career, while Schuettler continues to plug away on Tour at the ripe old age of 34.

A coin flip would be best to decide the winner of this one, considering the similar playing styles that they share.

For updated scores from all of today’s matches, click the livescores section at the top of the page, or for live streaming of this week’s events, click here.

International German Open—Hamburg

Former champion and No. 11 seed Tommy Robredo was ousted from the second-round of the German Open on Tuesday by Potito Starace.

Losing the match 7-6(10), 5-7, 6-1, Robredo lost his first meeting against the Italian in sixth encounters. Needing two hours and 12 minutes to prevail, Starace won 74 percent of his first serve points, while striking four aces.

Improving to 16-16 on the year, Starace will next face either Pere Riba or recent Stuttgart champ Albert Montanes.

Robredo won the Hamburg event when it had Masters 1000 status in 2006.

Elsewhere, Florian Mayer reached the third-round after dismissing talented youngster Alexandr Dolgopolov 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3.

Using his tricky two-handed drop shot to off set the rhythm of his Ukrainian opponent, Mayer recorded his 12th win of the season and will next face Albert Ramos-Vinolas or Maximo Gonzalez. Ramos-Vinolas took the spot of Gael Monfils after the Frenchman withdrew with an ankle injury.

Other second-round matches that will take place on Tuesday will include:

No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko vs. Florent Serra, Jan Hajek vs. No. 6 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 9 seed Gilles Simon vs. Jarkko Nieminen, Andrey Golubev vs. Marcel Granollers, and Fabio Fognini vs. Marc Gicquel.

First-round results that were completed on day two action included:

Houston champ Juan Ignacio Chela defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-3; Andreas Seppi brushing aside Stephane Robert 6-4, 6-3, and Eduardo Schwank dismissing Tobias Kamke 6-3, 6-4.

Big serving German Daniel Brands will also be in action later today against countryman Julian Reister.

Atlanta Tennis Championships—Georgia

Two older statesmen of American tennis will lock horns today in Atlanta, Georgia. Once viewed as the future of USTA, James Blake and Taylor Dent have now moved into the twilight of their respective careers.

Both men have been struggling this year—recording under .500 records—while hovering in and out of the top 100.

For Blake, his year has been marred by injury, while Dent has enjoyed a new son as his highlight of the season. Blake does hold a 4-1 career head-to-head lead over Dent, which includes three wins on hard-courts. Blake did pick up a doubles victory with John Isner on Monday evening, but that result should mean very little on the singles court.

Blake’s go-for-broke return game will be tested severely by Dent’s serve, but the former world No. 4 still moves better than his younger opponent.

Elsewhere, Americans Ryan Sweeting, Donald Young, and Robby Ginepri will also be in action.

Sweeting will battle tough Belgium Xavier Malisse, Young (the home pride of Atlanta) will go up against rock-solid Dudi Sela, and Ginepri will challenge flamboyant Australian Nick Lindahl.

Other matches that will take on Tuesday will include:

No. 5 seed Janko Tipsarevic vs. Kevin Anderson, Michal Przysiezny vs. Giulles Muller, and Lukas Lacko vs. Igor Kunitsyn.

For updated scores on today’s matches, click the live-scores section, or for live streaming click here.

Tournament Previews:

The first hurdle of the Olympus US Open Series will kick off this week with a 250 point ATP World Tour level event in Atlanta, Georgia. Taking over for the previous tour stop at Indianapolis, the 28-man field will be highlighted by American Andy Roddick.

Over in Europe, the clay-court players will continue to slide away during their day jobs at the 500 point event in Hamburg, Germany.

Once known as a Masters 1000 event, Hamburg was stripped of their elite status because of poor attendance. The International German Open will be highlighted by defending champ Nikolay Davydenko.

Back to Atlanta for a moment and Roddick’s last minute wildcard into the event. Initially intending on making his return to action at the Washington, D.C. tournament, Roddick felt that his early exit from Wimbledon warranted a quicker return to action. Crashing out of the year’s third Major in the fourth-round, Roddick will be desperate to keep his top 10 status heading into the US Open.

Currently ranked No. 9 in the world—his lowest ranking since November of 2008—Roddick will be joined by a cast of formidable hard-court players in Georgia.

John Isner, the man who defeated Roddick at the US Open last year, will enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed. Making his first tournament appearance since his Wimbledon classic, Isner should have a relatively smooth road to the weekend’s festivities until a potential clash with No. 3 seed Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals.

Hewitt, who had a great lead up into Wimbledon by defeating Roger Federer at the Halle event, will also be keen on establishing his momentum heading into New York.

Other potential contenders this week in Georgia could include: Mardy Fish and James Blake.

Playing some of the best tennis of his life, Fish will enter Atlanta on a five match winning streak after taking home the title in Newport. The hard serving 28-year-old could turn a few heads this summer with his under the radar play.

Blake’s form this week could become instrumental towards how his summer will shape up. Dropping out of the top 100, Blake will not be taking part in the upcoming Toronto Masters, and would in danger of retiring from the sport if he can’t sustain a return to form. Posting an 8-9 record on the season, Blake’s knee will undoubtedly be tested on the North American asphalt.

The champion this week in Atlanta will take home $95,845 and a first place lead in the US Open Series.

Onto the Hamburg event and defending champ Davydenko. Also returning from injury, Davydenko will hope to put a surprise first-round loss at Stuttgart behind him.

Entering the year as the hottest player on Tour, Davydenko will need to fight through the likes of Jurgen Melzer, Nicolas Almagro, and Juan Carlos Ferrero if he’s to repeat his title.

Gael Monfils, David Ferrer, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez were notable withdrawals on Monday.

A potential dark horses to watch out for this week could be Alexandr Dolgopolov. The young Ukrainian has improved almost 100 spots in the rankings this year, and currently finds himself at the No. 39 position.

Using a sneaky array of early hit groundstrokes, the 21-year-old remains the youngest player in the world’s top 100.

The winner of this week’s event in Hamburg will take home € 228,000.

With the previews for this week out of the way, let’s now take a look at Monday’s action from Atlanta and Hamburg.

Day 1 Review:

Atlanta Tennis Championships—Georgia

American Mardy Fish will bring his fine form to day one action in Atlanta with a first-round meeting against wildcard James Ward.

Riding a five match winning streak, Fish has won 11 of his past 13 matches. Improving his physical prowess over the past year, Fish appears adamant on finishing his career on a high note.

The 28-year-old currently holds a 23-11 record on the season, while never facing his No. 287th ranked opponent.

Elsewhere, No. 8 seed Benjamin Becker will face Michael Russell, while Teymuraz Gabashvili will take on Rainer Schuettler.

Becker’s career will always be highlighted by being the last man to play Andre Agassi, while Gabashvili will attempt to build on his fourth-round showing at the French Open in May.

Rajeev Ram will take his silky smooth game into a first-round affair against Karl Beck, and Illya Marchenko will battle Kristof Vliegen. Top seed Andy Roddick and No. 2 seed John Inser will take to the court on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

International German Open—Hamburg

Italian success came early and often on Monday in Hamburg.

Advancing to the second-round in clean-cut fashion, Potito Starace and Fabio Fognini scored first-round victories.

Starace needed one hour and 17 minutes to dispatch German hopeful Bjorn Phau 7-5, 6-0, while Fognini was made to work slightly harder in defeating Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Starace, who won 76 percent of his first serve points while striking one ace, improved to 15-16 on the year and will next face No. 11 seed Tommy Robredo.

Fognini’s march to the second-round was highlighted by breaking serve on four of 11 occasions, while winning 60 percent of his total service points.

The 23-year-old from Arma di Taggia, Italy will next face Marc Giquel, who took the place of No. 2 seed David Ferrer.

Elsewhere, Florian Mayer delighted the hometown crowd by dismissing Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 6-1; Jarrko Nieminen ousted Christophe Rochus 6-3, 7-6 (6); Maximo Gonzalez sent Oliver Rochus packing, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Jan Hajek defeated Andreas Beck 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, and Denis Istomin picked up his 17th win of the year by disposing of Lukas Rosol 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Matches that are still to come on Monday will include:

Mischa Zverev vs. Andrey Golubev, Jeremy Chardy vs. Marco Chiudinelli, Pere Riba vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu, Simone Bolelli vs. Simon Greul, and Florent Serra vs. Evgeny Korolev.

For live score updates click the live scores section, or alternatively to check out live action click here.

Previously held in Indianapolis, the Atlanta event will host a 28-man field.

For the complete Atlanta Tennis Championships men’s singles draw, click the link below.

Draw.

MercedesCup—Stuttgart, Germany

No. 3 seed Gael Monfils advanced to his first ATP World Tour final of the year on Saturday with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 win over Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain.

Using his abbreviated servicr motion to great affect, Monfils struck 12 aces, while winning 76 percent of his first serve points. Breaking serve on four of 11 occasions, Monfils needed one hour and 53 minutes to pick up his 23rd match victory of the season.

The world No. 17 advanced to his 10th career final, and will next face Albert Montanes for a chance at capturing his third career title.

Montanes defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 7-6 (6) earlier in the day.

Bidding to capture his second title of the season, Montanes’ inform backhand dictated play against his higher ranked opponent. Saving four of seven break point chances, Montanes won 67 percent of his total service points, while striking five aces.

Capturing the Estoril title earlier this year, Montanes will take a 1-0 career head-to-head lead over Monfils into Sunday’s final.

“Canadians are renown for their doubles tennis and so it is fitting that Glenn and Grant be inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame,” said Peter King, Senior Director, Sponsorship and Events, Rogers Communications Inc. “For several years, the tandem was among the best in tennis. Champions both on and off the court, these two men deserve to be enshrined among the game’s greats.”

One of Canada’s best doubles teams on record, Connell and Michibata competed together from 1988-92, winning four doubles titles together (Livingston, Washington, Seoul and Singapore). During their five-year partnership on the ATP World Tour, they were finalists in 12 events, including the Australian Open and Rogers Cup in 1991. The duo defeated John McEnroe and Mark Woodforde at the 1990 Rogers Cup quarter-final in three sets. As a team, Connell and Michibata reached a career-best No. 4 in the world rankings in 1991 and were named Tennis Canada Doubles Team of the Year in 1987. After Michibata retired from the game, Connell went on to become the No. 1 ranked doubles player in the world in 1993 and 1994. Connell also served as tournament director of Rogers Cup in Toronto during the 2006 event.

“The tandem of Connell and Michibata are synonymous with excellence in Canadian sport circles,” said tournament director Karl Hale. “These two champions blazed the path for the next generation of great Canadian doubles players such as Sebastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor. I join the rest of the Canadian tennis community in congratulating them on this worthy distinction and look forward to celebrating their accomplishments during Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.”

In 2006, Rogers created the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame in celebration of the 125^th anniversary of the tournament. Inductees include Carling Bassett-Seguso (2007), Boris Becker (2008), Bob Bédard (2006), Roy Emerson (2006), Ivan Lendl (2006), Sebastien Lareau (2007), John McEnroe (2007), Martina Navratilova (2006), Monica Seles (2009) and all past Rogers Cup Montreal tournament directors (2009).