Winston-Salem, NC (Sports Network) - Austrian Jurgen Melzer and former top-10 star Gael Monfils won semifinal matches Friday and will play for the title at the Winston-Salem Open, a final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up.
The ninth-seeded Melzer battled past sixth-seeded American Sam Querrey for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win, while the 15th-seeded French Monfils upended 10th-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, 7-6 (11-9), 6-3 on the grounds at Wake Forest University.
Melzer advanced to his second final of the year after being a runner-up at Zagreb back in February. The loss dropped his record in championship matches to 4-8.
The oft-injured 27-year-old Monfils is 4-14 in his career finals, including a loss in Nice in his native France back in May.
Monfils has won all four previous meetings with Melzer.
This week's champion will collect $76,900.
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