No. 8 Monfils upsets No. 2 Gonzalez in Austria; No. 5 Verdasco also eliminated

The upset bug was hovering over the Bank-Austria Tennis Trophy in Vienna on Friday. Tennis Masters Cup hopeful Fernando Gonzalez and No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco were eliminated in their quarterfinal matches after losing to No. 8 Gael Monfils (pictured) and German Philipp Kohlschreiber, respectively.

The 22-year-old Frenchman reached his fourth ATP semifinal of the year after handily taking down the 28-year-old Chilean Gonzalez, 6-3, 7-6(2), in one hour and 42 minutes. Monfils fired seven aces, while winning 78 percent of his first serve points and 53 percent of his second serve points. Monfils, who reached the semifinals earlier this year at the French Open, was able to break the Chileans serve on two of four chances. Monfils improves his season record to 25-14, while Gonzalez falls to 39-14. Gonzalez, who is looking to capture one of the remaining four spots at the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, currently is No. 11 on the ATP 2008 Race standings. Monfils will next meet Kohlschreiber in the semifinals.

Kohlschreiber, who is currently ranked No. 32 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, easily beat the fifth-seeded Spaniard Verdasco, 6-2, 6-3, in 67 minutes. The German star broke serve on four occasions, while losing only ten points on his serve throughout the match. With the victory today, Kohlschreiber now holds a 3-1 series edge against Verdasco. Kohlschreiber currently owns a 28-17 record, which includes winning the title earlier this year in Auckland and reaching the finals in Halle. Monfils and Kohlschreiber have never faced each other.

Feliciano Lopez, the 2004 Vienna champion beat hometown favorite Jurgen Melzer, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, to set up a semifinal clash against either Carlos Moya or qualifier Philipp Petzschner, who are currently in the first set at the time of this post. En route to the victory, Lopez smashed 11 aces, while breaking the Austrian’s serve both times he had the opportunity. The win by Lopez marks his first career victory against Melzer. He entered today’s match without a win in his previous two meetings, which included a loss at this year’s US Open.