Glossing over grass: Federer, Monfils reach Halle quarters; Hewitt outwits Dimitrov in London

Gerry Weber Open

The wounded warrior Monfils continued to make steady progress as he plots his way back up the ladder. The Frenchman dropped out of the top 100 owing to injury, but impressive runs at Bordeaux, Nice and a third round showing in Paris have helped him back up to 67^th rank. At the French Open, Monfils eliminated Berdych in the first round to arouse patriotic fervour and hope. Monfils struck seven aces and broke serve four times to score an easy victory.

Unfortunately for the Frenchman, he had to decide to skip Wimbledon to deal with a personal situation. Monfils did not disclose the details or the nature of his personal issues that have forced him to withdraw.

The top seed and favourite, Federer, was far from convincing in his first outing the grass this season. Federer broke his 166^th ranked opponent in the very first game and he doubled the advantage when Stebe dumped his forehand in the net in the fifth game. The Swiss star looked like he was coasting easy at 5-1, but Stebe rallied to hold off Federer when he was serving for the set. All the good work was undone though, when the German found the net again in the next game with a cross court backhand to end the set.

In the second set, Federer imposed himself with an early break when Stebe erred again to overcook his forehand. The Swiss settled into cruise control from 3-0, but had to overcome a minor blip at the end before sealing victory. Federer gifted a double fault, his second of the match, at match point to delay to the inevitable but made amends immediately. A crisply cut backhand volley put Federer in the quarters, where he will play Mischa Zverev. The 156^th ranked German defeated Mirza Basic 7-6(5), 6-3 to reach the last eight. Basic had created an upset in the earlier round when he defeated Jerzy Janowicz.

Russian Mikhail Youzhny upset fourth seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-7(4) 6-3 is just over two hours to reach the quarters. Youzhny saved three of four break points while breaking Nishikori four times to seal victory in three entertaining sets. The Russian awaits the winner of the German affair between Tobias Kamke and Philipp Kohlschreiber on Thursday. Monfils will take on the winner between defending champion Tommy Haas and Ernests Gulbis.