ATP Stuttgart - Gael Monfils v Victor Hanescu

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by Crunch Sports Staff

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Gael Monfils (credit: Wikipedia.org)

Top seed Gael Monfils is in action this evening on day two of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.

Monfils is currently enjoying the best form of his career and his success on clay and indoor hard courts has seen him climb to a career best ranking of seven in the world.

Unlike many of his contemporaries and predecessors, the Frenchman relishes competing in front of his home fans, and playing in a big stadium in Paris brought the best out of him. He beat David Ferrer on the way to the French Open quarter-finals in May, and if he can bring that form this week he will be the man to beat.

Monfils is also well adjusted to competing on the red dirt again after a week of Davis Cup which ended in France's annihilation of Germany in their quarter-final.

Monfils' straight sets win over Philipp Kohlschreiber on day one gave his country what proved to be an unassailable 2-0 lead.

For such a big man), it's always slightly surprising that Hanescu's specialist surface is clay but for someone so tall (6'6), he moves well around the court.

He has never really achieved his potential in the Masters Series events around Europe, but he achieved some decent success in the smaller tournaments earlier this year, reaching the Nice final.

Monfils leads 3-1 on the head-to-head with Hanescu's sole win coming in his home event of Bucharest four years ago.

Prediction: Monfils in two.

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