The semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Saturday feature No. 2 Andy Murray against No. 5 Rafael Nadal and No. 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against No. 13 Gael Monfils in an all-French match-up. This is the first time since 1988 two Frenchmen have reached the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo (Yannick Noah l. to Lendl, Thierry Tulasne l. to Martin Jaite). The last French finalist and winner here was Cedric Pioline in 2000 (d. Hrbaty).

In the first match on Court Rainier III, No. 4 seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares meet No. 2 Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo. Murray and Soares, who are No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings after winning titles in Sydney and the Australian Open in January, come in with a 16-3 match record on the season. Dodig and Melo are appearing in their first semi-final this year. Murray, who became No. 1 in the individual Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings on Apr. 4, is trying to stay on top. Melo is No. 2 and if he wins the match (w/Dodig), the Brazilian will regain No. 1 on Monday.

In the first singles match, Nadal and Murray meet for the 23^rd time (Nadal leads 16-6) and the eighth time on clay (Nadal leads 6-1). This is their third meeting in this round in Monte-Carlo and the Spaniard won the previous two in 2009 and 2011. Nadal is appearing in the semi-finals for the 11^th time in 12 years (except 2014) and he is 9-1 in SF matches. Last year he lost to Djokovic in SF.  He has a tournament-best 56-4 career record with a tourney record eight straight titles from 2005 to 2012. The 29-year-old Spaniard is also trying to reach his 100^th career ATP World Tour level final (67-32) and 42^nd in an ATP Masters 1000 event (27-14). Murray is making his third semi-final appearance here (2009, 2011) and he’s trying to reach his third career clay court final (2-0). Last year he won back-to-back clay titles in Munich (d. Kohlschreiber) and ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (d. Nadal). He is 11-5 in Masters 1000 finals.

In the next match on, friends Monfils and Tsonga square off for the seventh time on the ATP World Tour, the first on clay. Tsonga has a 4-2 head-to-head advantage (all on hard courts) but Monfils won the last meeting in the 3R at ATP Masters 1000 Miami last year. Monfils is making his second straight semi-final showing in Monte-Carlo and he’s trying to advance to his third career ATP Masters 1000 final. He was runner-up in Paris-Bercy in 2009-10. Monfils has not dropped a set in four matches, holding serve 31 of 35 games, while leading the tournament in return games won (53%). Tsonga is appearing in the semi-finals here for the first time since 2013 and the 30-year-old Frenchman (turns 31 on Sunday) is trying to advance to his first career clay court final on the ATP World Tour.

Kei Nishikori is fully focused on trying to claim his third consecutive title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, but is adopting a unique approach for taking in the city’s picturesque views.

The World No. 6 joined local favourite Nicolas Almagro on Friday to hit a few balls on a mini-tennis court set up on an MSC cruise ship. On Monday morning, Nishikori will play a mini-tennis match with Rafael Nadal at the top of Tibidabo mountain, known for its views overlooking Barcelona.

“I am happy to be back in Barcelona. I feel good and hope to win my third consecutive title here,” said Nishikori, shortly before his first training session at the Real Club Tenis Barcelona 1899. “I love Barcelona. The view of the city from the ocean is fantastic.

Nishikori is looking to become just the third player to three-peat at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. Only Nadal and Mats Wilander have accomplished the feat so far.

The top spot in the individual Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings is on the line this week after second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, and fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, won their quarter-final matches on Friday at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

Dodig and Melo will now square off against Murray and Soares in a semi-final match on Saturday. Should the second seeds prevail, Melo will overtake Murray as No. 1 when the newest Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings are released on Monday.

Dodig and Melo continued through strong form with a dominant victory over Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, 6-4, 6-4. A lone break of serve in each set was all the 2014 finalists in Monte-Carlo needed as the pair saved all three break points against them in the match.

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“We are very, very happy with how we played again. We tried to play as aggressively as we could and tried to do our best,” said Melo. “We are really looking forward for the next match and hope everything goes well to play another final here in Monte-Carlo.”

Murray and Soares needed exactly one hour to dispatch No. 6 seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florian Mergea, 6-2, 6-3. They also saved all three break points against them in the match while landing an impressive 84 per cent of first serves in play. 

“Playing Dodig and Melo is a very tough match. They’ve been playing extremely well for so many years. They play well on clay. But the toughest part is playing a good friend,” said Soares. “It’s never easy for me to play against Marcelo, but we both know that can happen. So we’re just going to go on court, try and forget about that and try to play our best tennis. The good thing is that it’s great for Brazil that we’re going to have someone in the finals.”

Third seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut extended their winning streak to 12 matches, saving a match point in their quarter-final to defeat Dominic Inglot and Andy Murray, 6-4, 3-6, [12-10]. The British duo erased a 4-8 deficit in the match tie-break and even held a match point at 10-9, but the French pair fought back to take the final three points of the match. Herbert and Mahut are looking to win their third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown in succession after victories in Indian Wells and Miami.

They will now play the unseeded pairing of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who won their quarter-final over Henri Kontinen and John Peers, 6-4, 6-4. The Colombian pair are looking to win their first-ever ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title.

“We felt very good out there today,” said Farah. “We were returning at a high level and always putting a lot of pressure on their serves. We are very happy to be back in the semis of a Masters 1000 event.”

Roger Federer thought he had his Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters quarter-final match on Friday won on two different occasions, but still sees the week as nothing but positive despite the loss.

Federer stormed through the first set against eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and came within two points of winning the match at 5-4 in the third set. But after undergoing left knee surgery in February to repair a torn meniscus, the Swiss star is simply happy to be playing at a high level again.

“I thought I was going to win the match maybe after the first set. I thought I was going to win the match maybe [at] the beginning of the third. But that doesn’t matter really,” he said. “It was a good match. It was nice to play an intense match. I’m happy [with] how the body reacted. So many good things this week. It’s all positive for me.

“Number one, it’s good to play a tournament after having had surgery. Number two, it was good to play one match. It was good to have a match with a rest, then to play again. Now it was good to play back-to-back, yesterday and today. Then it was good to play 2 hours 10 [minutes] today.”

The brief break from the tour has also rejuvenated Federer and left him as motivated as he’s ever been to put in long hours on the court. Even just after his loss, he was already thinking about his practice schedule.

“The pre-tournament stuff I was able to do, I trained really hard. My fitness coach was here. We practised well on the tennis court, as well. It’s been a really good past couple of weeks now for me, so I’m very happy,” said Federer.

“I hope my knee and my body are going to be okay the next couple of days. If I’m good, I might go practise tomorrow as well just to get the body into a rhythm of playing four days straight at a very intense level. If I feel like I need a break, the team tells me to rest, I’ll do that tomorrow.”

Perhaps the most encouraging sign for Federer is that this is only his first tournament of the clay-court season. Although he’s unsure of his tournament schedule leading into Roland Garros, the World No. 3 expects to be in peak form by the time he arrives in Paris.

“I’m returning a lot better. It’s better than other beginnings of the clay-court season,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s because of the new racquet. I’ll have to keep that and my serve will come as I play more matches.”

France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Friday as he battled to upset Roger Federer 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

The eighth-seeded Tsonga held his nerve to edge Federer in just over two hours, claiming sixth win in 17 meetings with the Swiss.

Tsonga will face either countryman Gael Monfils or Spanish lucky loser Marcel Granollers on Saturday for a place in his first tour-level clay-court final.

Playing this week in his first tournament since the Australian Open, Federer made a strong start to the match, breaking Tsonga three times to wrap up the opener. But the Swiss could not keep up his momentum, immediately dropping serve to open the second set. Trailing 1-4, Federer recouped one of the breaks, but Tsonga broke again in the seventh game before levelling the match.

The third set was a tight affair, with neither player creating a break point until the 11th game, when Tsonga broke Federer to 15 before serving out a memorable victory on Court Ranier III.

The 30-year-old Tsonga also reached the final four at the Monte-Carlo Country Club in 2013, falling to Rafael Nadal. He claimed his 39th Top 10 win (39-73 record) and first in Monte-Carlo after going 0-3 in the past three years.

Federer was making his comeback in Monte-Carlo after undergoing arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus in his left knee after reaching the Australian Open semi-finals. His scheduled comeback in Miami was delayed due to illness.

The Basel native was contesting his eighth quarter-final in 13 visits to Monte-Carlo and is a four-time runner-up at the third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the year.