The semi-finals of the Open Sud de France on Saturday feature three of the top four seeds, led by the top two French players on the ATP World Tour, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils, the No. 2 and 3 seeds, respectively, this week. In the first semi-final, No. 4 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia takes on No. 6 Albert Montanes of Spain for the first time. Tsonga and Monfils are trying to earn their first ATP World Tour title of the year while the others are looking for another title. Ljubicic won in Indian Wells in March and Montanes picked up two clay titles.

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In the first match, Montanes is making his first career ATP World Tour indoor semi-final appearance against Ljubicic, who won titles in 2001 and last year when the tournament was held in Lyon. The 31-year-old Croat is appearing in his third ATP World Tour semi-final in the past four weeks. Ljubicic is 10-12 in career finals while Montanes is 5-4, all coming on clay.
  
In the second semi-final, Tsonga takes a 2-0 lead against Monfils, winning the previous matches in the semi-finals of Bangkok in 2008 and Tokyo last year, both in straight sets. Tsonga is trying to reach his first ATP World Tour final of the year and seventh of his career (5-1) while Monfils is looking for his third final appearance of the season (0-2) and 12th of his career (2-9).

SATURDAY SEMI-FINALS HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play

(6) Albert Montanes (ESP) vs (4) Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)     First Meeting

Montanes FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Estoril (d Gil); Stuttgart (d Monfils); SF: Auckland (l Isner); Buenos Aires (l Ferrer); Bucharest (l Chela); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Verdasco); Gstaad (l Gasquet)
YTD W-L: 37-21
YTD Titles: 2
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: November 26, 1980
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 23

• Montanes, 29, is appearing in his sixth ATP World Tour semi-final or better this season, the second on hard courts (SF in Auckland in January) and first indoor SF…His best results were capturing his fourth and fifth career ATP World Tour titles in Estoril in May (d. then- No. 1 Federer in SF; d. Gil) and Stuttgart (d. Monfils) in July…Also a three-time semi-finalist in Auckland, Buenos Aires and Bucharest
• He is trying to reach his 10th career ATP World Tour final (5-4), the first on hard courts…Came into the week with a 6-16 career indoor record before only dropping one set in his first three matches
• He reached the 3rd Rd. or better at all four majors, including a personal-best 4th Rd. at US Open (first Grand Slam 4th Rd.; l. to Soderling)
• Comes in with a personal-best 37-21 match record (13-8 on hard) and ranked No. 23 after reaching a career-high No. 22 on August 2…His previous best match wins total was 24 in the past three years
• He is one of eight Spaniards to win an ATP World Tour title this year – Nadal-7, Ferrero-3, Almagro-2, Montanes-2, Verdasco-2, Ferrer, Garcia-Lopez, and Lopez…Spain has a 19-9 mark in finals this year

Ljubicic FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (d Roddick); SF: Beijing (l Ferrer); Stockholm (l Federer); QF: Dubai (l Djokovic); Umag (l Starace)
YTD W-L: 25-17
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 10
Date of Birth: March 19, 1979
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 17

• Ljubicic, 31, the No. 2 Croat (behind No. 14 Cilic), is appearing in his fourth ATP World Tour semi-final or better this season, the third in the past four weeks…Last week he lost to World No. 2 Federer in the semi-finals in Stockholm and prior to that he reached the semis in Beijing (l. to Ferrer) on Oct. 9
• When this tournament was held in Lyon, he captured titles in 2001 and last year
• On Friday he became the ninth active player to win at least 400 singles matches in his career (400-269)
• In March he captured biggest title of his career at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells…He is trying to reach his 23rd career ATP World Tour final (10-12), his 15th indoors (6-8)
• He enters with a 25-17 match record on the season (19-12 on hard) and in Indian Wells he defeated No. 2 Djokovic in 4th Rd., No. 3 Nadal in SF and No. 8 Roddick in final…Jumped from No. 26 to No. 13
• In July, he played in Davis Cup QF tie vs. Serbia and lost to Djokovic in opening rubber…He followed with a quarter-final in Umag in late July (l. to Starace)

(3) Gael Monfils (FRA) vs (2) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) Tsonga Leads 2-0
08 Bangkok (Thailand) Hard SF Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-0 6-3
09 Tokyo (Japan) Hard SF Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 6-3
Other Meeting:
03 France F14 (Valescure) Hard R16 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 6-3

Monfils FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
F: Stuttgart (l Montanes); Tokyo (l Nadal); SF: Brisbane (l Stepanek); Johannesburg (l Lopez); QF: Rotterdam (l Youzhny); Marseille (l Benneteau); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Nadal); Nice (l Starace); US Open (l Djokovic)
YTD W-L: 37-17
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: September 1, 1986
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 15

• Monfils, 24, the No. 2 Frenchman (behind No. 12 Tsonga), is playing in his fifth ATP World Tour semi-final of the year and he is 2-2 in SF matches…He was runner-up in Stuttgart (retired vs. Montanes - w/right ankle injury) in July and three weeks ago he reached the final in Tokyo (l. to Nadal)
• He is trying to become the fourth different French winner on the ATP World Tour this year and join Michael Llodra-2, Richard Gasquet-1 and Gilles Simon-1
• Has a 37-17 match record this year (27-11 on hard); was sidelined for two months between March and May w/left hand injury
• Began year at No. 13 and is now No. 15 (has hovered between No. 12 and No. 20 all season)
• Career-high is No. 9 (set March 2, 2009); has had 14 career weeks inside Top 10 (all within 15-week span between February 23 and June 7, 2009)

Tsonga FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Australian Open (l Federer); Marseille (l Benneteau); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Nadal); Barcelona (l de Bakker); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l Ferrer); Wimbledon (l Murray); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai (l Murray)
YTD W-L: 31-15
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: April 17, 1985
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 13

• Tsonga, 25, the top Frenchman on the ATP World Tour, is making his third ATP World Tour semi-final appearance of the season…His other semi-finals came in first two tournaments at the Australian Open (d. Djokovic in QF, l. to Federer) in January and Marseille (l. to Benneteau) in February
• His last ATP World Tour final/title came in Tokyo last October when he defeated Youzhny…Has a 5-1 career mark in finals with his only loss coming in ’08 Australian Open (l. to Djokovic)
• Has a 31-15 match record on the season (19-9 on hard) …Also a five-time quarter-finalist, at Miami (l. to Nadal), Barcelona (l. to de Bakker), Rome (l. to Ferrer), Wimbledon (l. to Murray) and Shanghai (l. to Murray); also reached Roland Garros 4th Rd. (ret. vs. Youzhny w/right hip injury)
• Was sidelined for three months and missed summer hard court circuit (incl. US Open) with left knee patella tear…Returned to action two weeks ago in Tokyo (fell 1st Rd. to Nieminen)
• In opening Davis Cup tie Mar. 5-7 against Germany, he defeated Benjamin Becker in four sets in second rubber and retired with sprained ankle in dead rubber against Simon Greul…Looking to lead France in final in December (vs. Serbia)
• In 2009, finished in Top 10 for second straight year at No. 10, highlighted by a career-best 53-20 match record…Won three ATP World Tour titles – Johannesburg, Marseille and Tokyo
• In 2008, ranked a year-end best No. 6 and began the season by reaching his first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic)

POTENTIAL FINAL HEAD-TO-HEADS

Albert Montanes (ESP) vs Gael Monfils (FRA)   Montanes Leads 2-0
05 Bucharest (Romania) Clay R32 Albert Montanes 3-6 6-1 6-4
10 Stuttgart (Germany) Clay F Albert Montanes 6-2 1-2 ret

Albert Montanes (ESP) vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)  Tsonga Leads 3-0
08 Casablanca (Morocco)   Clay R32 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4 7-6(10)
09 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris    Hard R32 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1 7-5
10 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (USA) Hard R32 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6 6-3 6-3

Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) vs Gael Monfils (FRA)   Ljubicic Leads 4-2
05 Metz (France) Hard F Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(7) 6-0
06 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells  Hard R32 Ivan Ljubicic 6-3  6-2
06 London / Queen's Club (England) Grass R16 Gael Monfils 7-6(11) 7-5
07 's-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands) Grass R32 Ivan Ljubicic 3-6 6-3 6-0
08 Roland Garros (France) Clay R16 Gael Monfils 7-6(1) 4-6 6-3 6-2
09 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai (China) Hard R16 Ivan Ljubicic 6-2 3-0 ret

Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)  Ljubicic Leads 2-1
09 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7(4) 7-6(8)  7-6(7)  6-2
09 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid Clay R32 Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 7-5
10 Dubai (U.A.E.) Hard R16 Ivan Ljubicic 7-5 6-3