AMERICAN TENNIS NEWS – RICKY’S PREVIEWS AND PICKS FOR THE WASHINGTON, D.C. SEMIFINALS: JOHNSON VS. KARLOVIC, MONFILS VS. ZVEREV

Written by: Staff on 22nd July 2016

AMERICAN TENNIS NEWS - RICKY'S PREVIEWS AND PICKS FOR THE WASHINGTON, D.C. SEMIFINALS: JOHNSON VS. KARLOVIC, MONFILS VS. ZVEREV |

Photo by Citi Open via Facebook

By Ricky Dimon

Gael Monfils is the highest seed left standing as the Citi Open semifinals arrive on Saturday, after John Isner lost a quarterfinal thriller against fellow American Steve Johnson. Monfils is in line for a blockbuster matchup with Alexander Zverev, while Johnson is facing Ivo Karlovic in a more surprising top-half semifinal.

Ricky previews the action and makes his predictions.

(5) Steve Johnson vs. (13) Ivo Karlovic

Karlovic and Johnson will be squaring off for the fifth in their careers and for the second time in Washington, D.C. Johnson is leading the head-to-head series 3-1, a record that includes a 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(4) win over Karlovic two years ago during third-round action in Washington, D.C. The world No. 25’s quarterfinal run that summer also included a third-set tiebreaker defeat of Isner, whom he scraped past in dramatic fashion again on Friday. Isner won 93 total points to Johnson’s 87 and led by a mini-break in each of two tiebreakers only to have Johnson prevail 7-6(7), 7-6(15).

Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in action against Bernard Tomic of Australia during a third round match at the CITI Open tennis tournament at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Washington, DC USA, 21 July 2016. Karlovic defeated Tomic. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER

Thus continues Johnson’s hot streak, which features his first career ATP title on the grass of Nottingham. He also advanced to the last 16 at Wimbledon before bowing out at the hands of Roger Federer. In addition to the No. 5 seed’s heroics versus Isner, he has routine straight-set victories over Adrian Mannarino and Ryan Harrison to his credit.

Like Johnson, Karlovic is playing stellar at the moment. Building on his title last week in Newport, theCroat has enjoyed a remarkably routine path–especially by his standards–to this week’s semis. He has not surrendered a set in wins over Brian Baker, Bernard Tomic, and Jack Sock.

Pick: Johnson in 3

(7) Alexander Zverev vs. (2) Gael Monfils

Photo by Citi Open via Facebook

Zverev and Monfils will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers. Monfils has won both of their previous meetings on indoor hard courts; 6-1, 7-6(12) last year in Marseille and 7-6(4), 6-3 earlier this year in the Rotterdam quarters.

There is no doubt that Zverev has also improved drastically in the brief time since he last went up against Monfils. The 19-year-old is already up to No. 27 in the rankings thanks in part to a fourth-round showing in Indian Wells and runner-up performances in Nice and Halle. Zverev owns 32 ATP-level match wins in 2016 following Washington, D.C. defeats of Taylor Fritz, Malek Jaziri, and Benoit Paire.

Monfils started 2016 on fire, reaching quarterfinals in Melbourne, Indian Wells, and Miami before finishing runner-up to Rafael Nadal at the Monte-Carlo Masters. Injury and illness slowed him from early May through Wimbledon, but he is back in business as the calendar approaches August. Aside from a one-set hiccup against Sam Querrey on Friday, Monfils has been dominant in D.C. while knocking out Yen-Hsun Lu, Borna Coric, and then Querrey via a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 scoreline.

Monfils has been the best player this entire week and he should be eager to get back into the World Tour Finals discussion with a title–or, at the very least, another final.

Pick: Monfils in 3