(October 22, 2011) After getting himself down a set and a break, World No. 10 Gael Monfils turned up the heat narrowly getting past Canadian Milos Raonic 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-3 in 2 hours, 9 minutes. He will face Jarkko Nieminen who will be looking for his first title since 2006 after he defeated James Blake 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-2.
Monfils took advantage of the second serve of Raonic in the first set, and earned three break chances, but was unable to convert and the set moved into a tiebreak. Monfils was serving at 5-4 in the tiebreak, but was unable to serve it out and then went down a break early in the second set.
Late in the second set, Monfils was able to reel off three games in a row to level the match at a set each. The Frenchman shored up his serve in the last set, hitting three aces and losing only five points on serve before breaking Raonic to give him the lead that he would consolidate for the victory.
Nieminen, once ranked as high as No. 13, had a tough time in some service games, facing eight break points and saving only four. Blake had an even tougher time, hitting seven double faults in the process of being broken five times in 14 opportunities.
The Finn came into the match with a 1-6 record against Blake, including a loss in the 2006 Stockholm final. Blake was forced to play long games on his own serve, playing 135 points on his serve compared to only 86 points against Nieminen’s serve.
Monfils and Nieminen have played each other only once, earlier this year in the quarterfinals of Bangkok where Monfils won in two close sets. Monfils hopes to win the fourth title of his career, with his last coming in Montpellier last year.