Intro:

Number one seed Gilles Simon knocked out by Daniel Gimeno-Traver, as Gael Monfils breezes past Simone Bolelli in the Nastase Tiriac Trophy quarter-finals.

Script:

Number one seed Gilles Simon started his Nastase Tiriac quarter-final against Daniel Gimeno-Traver well enough, winning a tie-break 7-5 to take the first set.

But the unseeded Spaniard responded, taking the next 6-4 to send the match to a decider.

He got stronger as Simon got weaker and after two hours and twenty minutes on court he served out to win the third set 6-2.

He is now looking to reach his second tour final of the month, after reaching his first one in Casablanca. He will need to beat Jiri Vesely if he is to do that in
Romania, the seventh seed found a way to win 6-4, 6-4 against Ivo Karlovic, despite his opponent firing down 11 aces.

Gael Monfils is now the highest ranked player left, he took the first set of his last eight match 6-3 against Simone Bolelli. It wasn't all simple though, Bolelli will wonder what might have been had he taken any of his seven break points. Instead Monfils won a second set tie-break 7-4, for the match and a place in the last four.

Where he will face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who beat Lukas Rosol in similar style. I wonder if his match against Monfil will finish quite as awkwardley as this on Saturday.