Gstaad Friday Preview

Two Top 20 stars are among the line-up on Friday as all four quarter-finals take to the clay courts of Gstaad.

First up on Centre Court is an all-unseeded match-up between Igor Andreev and Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Andreev has had tremendous success at this tournament before, going 16-5 (and reaching the semi-finals or better in four of his previous five appearances). Gimeno-Traver is playing here for the second time and fell first round in his only previous appearance. Andreev won the pair’s only previous meeting in straight sets.

Next up is a first-time meeting between top seed Mikhail Youzhny and qualifier Yuri Schukin. World No. 14 Youzhny is playing here for the fifth time, and has equaled his best previous showing, a quarter-final finish in 2008; Schukin is playing here for the first time.

No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro faces Jeremy Chardy next. World No. 18 Almagro is playing here for the first time and has been pushed to three sets in both of his early round matches, but he is 2-0 against Chardy, and does have a phenomenal 25-11 mark on clay this year. Chardy is strong on these courts though, this being his third appearance here - and his third quarter-final.

Last up is No. 4 seed Albert Montanes against No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet. Montanes is ranked higher, in fact he reached a new career-high of No. 23 this week; but Gasquet has almost everything else on his side in this match-up, first of all winning all three of their previous meetings (one on the ATP World Tour, two on the Challenger circuit) and a much better record at this event (Montanes is playing his first quarter-final in three tries here, while Gasquet is now 9-1 here, his two previous tries here being winning the title in 2006 and reaching the quarters in 2007).

Buy Tickets

FRIDAY QUARTER-FINAL HEAD-TO-HEADS - In Order of Play

Centre Court

Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) vs Igor Andreev (RUS) Andreev Leads 1-0
08 Umag (Croatia) Clay R16 Igor Andreev 6-2 7-6(3)

Gimeno-Traver FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Stuttgart (l Monfils)
YTD W-L: 12-18 (11-11 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: August 7, 1985
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 74

Andreev FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Costa Do Sauipe (l Kubot); QF: Buenos Aires (l Ferrer); Belgrade (l Querrey)
YTD W-L: 12-13 (11-8 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: July 14, 1983
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 88

(1) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs (Q) Yuri Schukin (KAZ)   First Meeting

Youzhny FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Munich (d Cilic); F: Rotterdam (l Soderling); Dubai (l Djokovic); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Soderling); Roland Garros (l Berdych)
YTD W-L: 29-11 (12-4 on clay)
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 6
Date of Birth: June 25, 1982
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 14

Schukin FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-1 (3-1 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: June 26, 1979
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 147

Jeremy Chardy (FRA) vs (2) Nicolas Almagro (ESP) Almagro Leads 2-0
08 Roland Garros (France)  Clay R16 Nicolas Almagro 7-6(0) 7-6(7) 7-5
10 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami  Hard R32 Nicolas Almagro 6-2 6-7(9) 6-3

Chardy FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: Delray Beach (l Fish)
YTD W-L: 16-20 (8-9 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: February 12, 1987
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 69

Almagro FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Båstad (d Soderling); SF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Nadal); QF: Acapulco (l Ferrero); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Roddick); Munich (l Cilic); Roland Garros (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 35-18 (25-11 on clay)
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 6
Date of Birth: August 21, 1985
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 18

(4) Albert Montanes (ESP) vs (7) Richard Gasquet (FRA) Gasquet Leads 1-0
08 Stuttgart (Germany) Clay QF Richard Gasquet 6-3 7-6(5)
Other Meetings:
05 Barletta CH (Italy) Clay QF Richard Gasquet 6-3 7-5
05 Napoli CH (Italy) Clay SF Richard Gasquet 1-6 7-6(2) 6-1

Montanes FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Estoril (d Gil); Stuttgart (d Monfils); SF: Auckland (l Isner); Buenos Aires (l Ferrer); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Verdasco)
YTD W-L: 28-16 (20-10 on clay)
YTD Titles: 2
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: November 26, 1980
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 23

Gasquet FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Nice (d Verdasco); F: Sydney (l Baghdatis); QF: Brisbane (l Roddick); Casablanca (l Hanescu); Belgrade (l Isner)
YTD W-L: 22-12 (14-7 on clay)
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 6
Date of Birth: June 18, 1986
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 47