U.S. Open Capsules: Clijsters, Venus win to set up marquee semifinal
NEW YORK (AP) — Nobody can say Kim Clijsters took an easy path to her U.S. Open title last year. She played both Williams sisters.
This year, she'll only play one, though this could be an even more effective version of Venus Williams than came to Flushing Meadows in 2009.
Clijsters and Williams each won their quarterfinal matches Tuesday to set up a marquee semifinal — the No. 2 seed, Clijsters, vs. the No. 3 seed, Williams, and a pair of women both seeking a third U.S. Open championship.
"Just the ability to compete," Williams said when asked to describe her opponent. "I think in coming back from her layoff, I think she never lost that. Obviously she's a very good athlete. When you're a really, really incredible athlete, it really takes your game to another level."
Last year, Clijsters returned from a 2½-year layoff and was hoping to use the U.S. Open as a bit of a tune-up and a test — so she could see how big-time competition felt before she made the comeback in earnest in 2010.
In one of the best comeback stories of the year, she ended up winning the whole thing. It started looking like a real possibility when Clijsters beat Williams, who was visibly hobbling on an injured knee, 6-0, 0-6, 6-4 in the fourth round.
In last year's semifinals, a match remembered for a certain foot fault, Clijsters topped Serena Williams.
Serena isn't here this year because of an injury. Venus hurt her knee again, too, but recovered in time to play.
"This is probably some of the best of Venus that I've seen for a while," Clijsters said.
Maybe not the cleanest tennis, but certainly good enough to win. Williams overcame nine double-faults and a total of 33 unforced errors — much of it caused by a wind that whipped around Arthur Ashe Stadium for yet another day — to beat reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (5), 6-4.
"I feel like when the stakes were higher I was able to raise my game," Williams said. "She did, too. She played some great points. She's just so feisty that you have to kind of keep her at bay."
Clijsters also got pushed — by No. 5 Sam Stosur. In a match that featured 15 breaks of serve, Clijsters finally held at the end of the third set for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 victory. It was one of the few times since the Belgian returned to Flushing Meadows — the 0-6 set last year against Venus was another — when she didn't appear totally in control.
"I still didn't play a good match, but I was obviously able to win it," Clijsters said. "That's obviously, at the end of the day, what we try to do out here, is try to win the matches whether you play good or bad."
In men's play Tuesday — "Spain Day" — No. 1 Rafael Nadal advanced with another three-set victory, this time over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Nadal, who hasn't lost a set or a service game yet in the tournament, advanced to play No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, who defeated No. 10 David Ferrer, also of Spain, in a classic match, 5-7, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Nadal-Verdasco will be the first all-Spanish quarterfinal in U.S. Open history. It's a rematch of their five-setter in the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open. Nadal won that and is 10-0 lifetime against his Spanish rival.
"He's playing very good tennis, so it's going to be a very interesting match," Nadal said. "I have to play aggressive, to play well. It not going to be impossible, I think."
Another quarterfinal will pit No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny against No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka.
Wawrinka beat No. 20 Sam Querrey, which means no American man will be in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open for the second straight year. More bad news on the U.S. scene: This is the worst Grand Slam year ever for the men, with Andy Roddick making the lone quarterfinal appearance of any American man, at the Australian Open in January. Since the French Open began admitting foreigners in 1925, U.S. men have made at least two quarterfinal Grand Slam appearances every year until now.
"I didn't feel any extra pressure or anything. I definitely wanted to win and keep the American men (in) — keep the hope going," Querrey said. "You know, I was close."
On Wednesday, the other women's semifinal will be set when No. 31 Kaia Kanepi plays No. 7 Vera Zvonareva in one quarter and No. 1 Carolina Wozniacki faces unseeded Dominika Cibulkova in the other.
In men's quarterfinal action, No. 17 Gael Monfils plays No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 5 Robin Soderling plays five-time champion, No. 2 Roger Federer.
Clijsters beats Stosur to reach U.S. Open semifinals
NEW YORK (AP) — Kim Clijsters' 19th consecutive victory at the U.S. Open was anything but easy.
Struggling with her serve, shaky off both wings and bothered by the wind, defending champion Clijsters barely got past French Open runner-up Sam Stosur 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the quarterfinals Tuesday night.
"After the match, I was like, 'How did I win this?' I didn't feel like I was playing well; Sam is a good player," Clijsters said after double-faulting eight times, making 43 total unforced errors and losing seven of her 19 service games, "so I was just kind of talking to my coach and fitness coach and just (saying), 'Wow. What just happened? How did I win?'"
Continued Clijsters, who had 16 unforced errors on forehands, 17 on backhands: "Next match, everything will have to be a lot better."
That next match will be a semifinal against another woman who has won two championships at the U.S. Open, Venus Williams.
They have played 12 times previously, each winning six, but Clijsters has taken the last four in a row, including in the fourth round last year in New York.
The No. 2-seeded Clijsters and No. 5 Stosur both found the swirling air a problem, particular when serving. There were a total of 15 service breaks, including a stretch in which there were nine in a span of 10 games.
"I don't think either of us played our best tennis tonight, by any means," said Stosur, whose fourth-round match ended at 1:35 a.m. Monday, the latest finish for a women's match at the U.S. Open.
She got broken all four times she served in the final set.
"Windiest conditions I've played in all week, and probably the worst I've served all week, as well," Stosur said. "Put those two things together, and you don't hold serve for the third set, and you lose."
Clijsters managed to hold in each of her last two service games, finishing things off with an ace, her fifth of the evening.
"Yeah, that's probably all the frustration that comes out at the end," Clijsters said with a smile. "I'm just going to try and just remember the last serve I hit today and just try and focus on that one."
The Belgian won the U.S. Open the last two times she entered, in 2005 and — after taking off 2½ years to get married and have a baby — in 2009. Now she is trying to become the first woman since Williams in 2000-01 to win the tournament two years in a row.
Clijsters has won 25 of her last 26 matches in the tournament, but Australia's Stosur felt she had her opportunities to get to the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time.
"I know Kim's a great player, and a very tough opponent here. I mean, it wasn't the easiest match to win," Stosur said. "But when you have chances like that, that's what's disappointing — not to kind of lose 'em on your own racket. I don't think she really stepped up and hit 12 winners to break my serve three times in a row."
-- Howard Fendrich
Verdasco celebrates Spain Day at U.S. Open
EW YORK (AP) — Fernando Verdasco sprinted toward the drop shot, slid on the concrete and barely got to the ball — then whipped it around the net post and back inside the sideline.
For a clean winner. On match point. In a fifth-set tiebreaker.
What a way to celebrate "Spain Day" at the U.S. Open.
One of the best matches of the tournament ended with arguably the best shot of the tournament — Verdasco's winner in a 5-7, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 10 David Ferrer in the first of two all-Spanish matchups Tuesday night at Flushing Meadows.
The match lasted 4 hours, 23 minutes and showcased the country's tennis at its best.
No. 8 Verdasco trailed 4-2 in the fifth set and 4-1 in that tiebreaker before rallying for only his second career victory when trailing by two sets.
"It's tough to explain," Verdasco said when asked about his closing shot. "You are just, you are with your sixth sense, in the ball, in the point, knowing how important it is, and, just trying to run, fight."
For his efforts, Verdasco will play No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the first all-Spanish quarterfinal in U.S. Open history. Nadal beat fellow Spaniard, No. 23 Feliciano Lopez, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, in a match that ended at 1:16 a.m. Nadal-Verdasco will be a rematch of their five-set Australian Open semifinal from 2009 — another all-Spanish classic.
"He's a very accomplished player," Nadal said. "He has all the shots. He's a very, very good player. He had an amazing comeback today against another friend. I'll have to play my best tennis if I want to win."
That Nadal, the top-ranked player in the world, is getting pushed by players in his own country hasn't escaped notice this week, where the Americans are struggling. For the second straight year, no U.S. man made it to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open.
"Clearly, Rafa and Fernando Verdasco are Spain's best athletes," said American Mardy Fish after he was bounced Monday. "Obviously, soccer is their biggest sport, but tennis is right there. I mean, Rafael Nadal is arguably the biggest sporting athlete they've ever had."
All this, including the soccer part, is connected, according to one widely held theory.
It's the classic case of success breeding success, which brings more notice to the country and, thus, compels everyone from the government to individual parents to spend more time and money on all sports. The specific uptick in Spanish tennis, meanwhile, might date to the leadup to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, when upgrading facilities for a relatively new sport to the Olympic program took priority.
Then came Rafa.
Much as Arnold Palmer did for golf in America in the 1960s, Nadal's emergence in Spain has helped bring what was once viewed as an elite sport to the masses. More courts have been built and court time that used to be prohibitively expensive now comes more cheaply. More teachers are being trained and more players being lured. Young, elite athletes see there's a route to success that used to be reserved mostly for soccer.
"They have a lot of courts. They have a lot of good facilities to practice well," said Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who defeated Spaniard Tommy Robredo earlier on Tuesday. "I think it's not really expensive to practice in Spain for Spanish people. In Russia now it's much expensive to practice in Moscow. Not everybody can do this."
More kids practicing gradually leads to a larger pool of elite teenagers, which in turn produces pros.
Verdasco and Ferrer are two of Spain's best — and they put on a memorable show.
Verdasco's final winner put him almost on top of Ferrer's sideline chair. The winner stood up and the two shared a long embrace. Verdasco went out to the middle of the court and dropped to his knees. Ferrer hurried off the court.
"It really hurts," he said, "but there have been others."
Watching this Spanish show with interest are player-development officials in the United States, where much has been made this summer of the slump the country is going through. Spain's six players in the round of 16 tied the most for a foreign country since the Open era began in 1968. The U.S. tennis program, meanwhile, made its biggest headlines earlier this year when Andy Roddick briefly dropped from the top 10, leaving no U.S. man in the top 10 for the first time since the rankings began in 1973.
Is it a coincidence that one of the key architects of the U.S. Tennis Association's development program is Jose Higueras, a Spaniard?
Higueras is pushing a concept called "shot tolerance" that has become popular in Spain. Basically, it's teaching young players to find a middle ground between being too aggressive and too passive, something easier to learn in regions where kids grow up playing on slow clay surfaces.
"They're taught it at the beginning," Higueras said. "I mean, for them, accountability about missing is very, very important. And it also comes with the surface that you grow up with. If you grow up on hard courts, on a fast surface, missing becomes a lot more normal because the courts are faster and you don't have much chance to get set up. While on clay, the misses are normally not as acceptable."
But as this week — and the last few years — have illustrated, it's not just success on clay that pushes the Spaniards. Of Nadal's eight Grand Slam titles, two have come on the slick grass at Wimbledon and one in Australia, where the hard courts are faster than clay, though not as fast as the surface at Flushing Meadows. He still needs a U.S. Open title to complete the career Grand Slam.
Of course, if Nadal doesn't get it done this year, there are plenty of other candidates.
"In many ways, I think Spain has a lot of tennis players who play, people practicing, who like to play tennis," Robredo said. "But that doesn't help us win matches. Out of the million people playing, you have to be good to be at the top level, so, we're happy because we're the ones who've done it."
-- Eddie Pells
Nadal reaches U.S. Open quarters by beating Lopez
NEW YORK (AP) — Trying to complete a career Grand Slam, Rafael Nadal has won all 12 sets he's played so far at the 2010 U.S. Open.
He's also won all 61 games he's served.
Nadal moved into the U.S. Open quarterfinals and stretched his winning streak at major tournaments to 18 by beating 23rd-seeded Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in a match that finished at 1:16 a.m. Wednesday.
The top-seeded Nadal saved all four break points he faced against Lopez and has erased all 13 he's had to deal with this year in New York.
"I am playing well, but I am not playing — yet — at my highest level," Nadal said. "To be in (the) quarterfinals of the U.S. Open without losing a set and without losing serve, two things must work very well: concentration and the serve."
Nadal finished with an impressive ratio of 34 winners to 14 unforced errors against Lopez. It was a point Nadal lost, though, that might have included his top shot.
Early in the third set, Nadal did his best Roger Federer impression, chasing down a lob and, with his back to the net, hitting the ball between his legs. But unlike Federer, who pulled off that trick shot for winners at the U.S. Open both last year and this year, Nadal didn't earn the point — because Lopez was standing at the net and calmly volleyed the ball away.
Nadal and Lopez began playing after 11 p.m. Tuesday night, because theirs was the final match on Arthur Ashe Stadium in a schedule that included a five-set men's match, a three-set women's match and a lengthy two-set women's match.
"Yeah, of course, it's difficult. You have to be awake," Lopez said. "It's a long day for Rafa and for me. But we knew it's going to be like this."
Nadal won the French Open and Wimbledon this year to raise his total to eight major championships. He needs a U.S. Open title to complete a career Grand Slam.
Now Nadal will play No. 8 Fernando Verdasco in the first all-Spanish quarterfinal in U.S. Open history.
"He is a very complete player," Nadal said. "He has all the shots, and he's playing very well."
It's a rematch of their classic 2009 Australian Open semifinal, a five-setter that Nadal won in 5 hours, 14 minutes.
That's part of Nadal's overall 10-0 record against Verdasco.
"Everybody knows that he's No. 1 in the world; he's great player," said Verdasco, who eliminated No. 10 David Ferrer in five sets Tuesday. "My record is not good against him. But I will keep trying and keep fighting."
-- Howard Fendrich
Red, white and boo-hoo: Last U.S. man loses at Open
NEW YORK (AP) — Mark 2010 down as a low point for U.S. men's tennis.
The last of 15 American men left in the U.S. Open, 20th-seeded Sam Querrey, lost in the fourth round Tuesday, edged by No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6 (9), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 after nearly 4½ hours of quite even, wind-affected play.
Querrey's exit means zero U.S. men reached the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows for the second consecutive year — something that never had happened before 2009 in the history of a tournament that began in 1881.
"I didn't feel any extra pressure or anything. I definitely wanted to win and keep the American men (in) — keep the hope going," said Querrey, who was broken in the match's last game. "You know, I was close."
His exit also ensures there will be a record-low one appearance by an American man in the quarterfinals at any of tennis' four Grand Slam tournaments this season (Andy Roddick lost in that round at the Australian Open). Since 1925, when the French championships first allowed foreign competitors, the United States managed to place at least two representatives in Grand Slam quarterfinals every year.
"I mean, it's annoying that the Europeans are in the quarters every Slam," Querrey said. "We're trying."
There have been other negative signs recently for a nation that produced greats of the game through the generations such as Bill Tilden, Don Budge, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
U.S. men are in their longest Grand Slam title drought in tennis' 42-year Open era: No man from the country has won a major championship since Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open, now a 28-tournament gap. The only longer span between U.S. Grand Slam titles was a 30-tournament shutout from 1955-63.
Plus, there's this: Only two active U.S. men, Roddick and Robby Ginepri, even have reached the semifinals at a major tournament.
When Roddick dropped to 11th last month, it marked the first time in the 37-year history of the rankings that the United States didn't have a member of the top 10. The U.S. Davis Cup team lost in the first round to Serbia in March, its earliest exit since 2005; if the Americans fail to beat Colombia later this month, they will fall out of the competition's World Group for the first time since 1988 and need to earn their way back into the top tier.
"The game's a lot different than it was in the '90s, when there were 15 countries playing. Now, every country is a contender," Bob Bryan said after teaming with twin brother Mike to win Tuesday and give the U.S. a team in the men's doubles semifinals at Flushing Meadows. "So, yeah, it's just a lot deeper. A lot of countries like Serbia rising to the top of the game and bumping America down."
With Querrey gone, Venus Williams is the only U.S. singles player still standing. She got to the semifinals by beating Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Tuesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium. That women's match didn't begin until after 6 p.m. because it followed Querrey vs. Wawrinka.
Both Querrey and Wawrinka — who upset 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Andy Murray in the third round this year — were striving to earn a debut trip to a Grand Slam quarterfinal. And by joining his far-more-accomplished countryman, Roger Federer, in the round of eight, Wawrinka helped give Switzerland two quarterfinalists at a major for the first time.
"Roger, he's always in quarterfinals, (for) many years, so that's not something different," said Wawrinka, a 25-year-old who is participating in his 23rd Grand Slam tournament. "But for me, it's my first time, so it's something important for my career."
Wawrinka teamed up this summer with a new coach, Peter Lundgren, who was working with Federer when he won his first major title at Wimbledon in 2004. Lundgren has pushed Wawrinka to add variety to his game, and that helped against Querrey.
Also key: Querrey's right leg began to cramp as the match dragged on.
"The last four games, he was really tired, and was really difficult for him to stay with his game," said Wawrinka, who next faces No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. "He (changed) his game because he was tired."
Querrey certainly had his chances.
"He'll definitely have a feeling that this is a match he could have won," said Querrey's coach, David Nainkin. "He'll be disappointed that it got away from him."
In the first set, Querrey hit more aces and total winners than Wawrinka and held the only three break points of the set, at love-40 in the third game, but wasted them. Querrey also led 3-0 in that tiebreaker, then had a set point at 8-7 but couldn't convert.
In the third set, Querrey went up a break and led 3-1, but got broken back to 3-all, then lost serve again in the last game, when he missed two volleys badly.
"Those are kind of the two shots I can look back, and that I remember, and I'm a little bummed about," said the 22-year-old Querrey, who grew up in California and now calls Las Vegas home. "The first one was kind of tough. The wind kind of got it behind my head a little bit. The other one was inexcusable."
Querrey lost in the fourth round for the second major tournament in a row, after also bowing out at Wimbledon in that round.
"Hopefully I can keep that up in the Slams," he said. "I think I can win that round-of-16 match, and keep winning matches after that."
Like the other U.S. men, he will have to wait till next year to find out.
-- Howard Fendrich
Notebook: New kids rules expected to help U.S. tennis pipeline
NEW YORK (AP) — While Sam Querrey's loss down on the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium marked another unsatisfying moment for American tennis, up in a suite, the U.S. Tennis Association was celebrating a move it hopes might prevent days like these in the future.
On Tuesday, the USTA announced a rare rules change that's taking hold worldwide, calling for downsized courts, smaller rackets and less lively tennis balls for players 10 and under.
The rule is designed to make tennis, a notoriously difficult game to learn, easier for young players, who often give up after finding themselves unable to handle adult-sized rackets and chase down balls on the regulation-sized, 78-foot court. The kids' courts will range from 36 to 60 feet, some with lower nets.
"You're asking a 9-year-old to play on the same-size court as Roger Federer does," said Kurt Kamperman, the USTA's chief executive of community tennis. "It's not always realistic."
To illustrate the point, the USTA cut a commercial showing kids trying to take a corner kick on a World Cup-sized soccer field, pitch a baseball over the plate from 60 feet, 6 inches away and shoot 3-pointers on a regulation basketball court.
All pretty much impossible, as is — the USTA believes — teaching the concept of a good serve-and-volley game or regular grips when kids are killing themselves trying to cover the whole court, or lurching for balls spinning over their heads.
The USTA is making the move for two reasons.
—First, to keep participation numbers high. In a struggling economy, tennis has fared better than most sports — and the sales of tennis rackets for juniors have been among the best of those numbers.
—Then, if those numbers improve, slowly a growing tennis pipeline will start feeding the elite levels.
The state of America's player development program is on many minds, especially with Querrey's elimination marking the second straight year that no American man has reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. Earlier this summer, there were no U.S. men in the world top 10 for the first time since the rankings began in 1973.
Using the examples of other sports that downsize the playing field for youngsters, Kamperman hopes parents will get past the idea that they're pushing their kids to play "mini-tennis," and not the real thing.
"One reason video games are fun for kids is that it gives them something they're good at," he said. "That's the point here. If they're good at it, they'll keep trying. If they don't think they're good at it, they won't. This gives us the best chance to find a bigger pool of athletes."
DUBS LOVE: No more American men left in the U.S. Open? Don't tell that to Bob and Mike Bryan.
The winningest doubles team in tennis history advanced to the semifinals Tuesday with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. The match ended about the same time Sam Querrey was eliminated, meaning no American man will make it to the singles quarters for the second straight year at the U.S. Open.
The Bryans know how that story will play.
"It's always going to say, 'There's no Americans left in the tournament,'" Bob Bryan said. "And then some guy way in the back will say, 'What about the Bryans?'"
"We like that guy," Mike Bryan said.
Even though doubles is the more popular than singles in most pockets on the recreational scene, it doesn't capture fans' imaginations on the pro level anywhere near the way singles does. That results in less prize money, which turns back on itself and compels fewer top players to play.
The Bryans, though, have been almost exclusively devoted to doubles since they were kids. In February, they recorded their 600th win — an Open Era record and another bit of news the average sports fan probably missed.
"The hard-core tennis fan can appreciate it, but singles players are more famous," Bob Bryan said. "It's like when Brad Pitt goes on the red carpet, there are a million people waiting for him there because he's famous. We like the niche we're in. Yeah, it'd be nice if more fans came to the matches. But we've been talking about this for 10 years. You just kind of accept it after a while, I guess."
PRESIDENT'S MAYOR: Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins was honored with the U.S. Tennis Association's President's Award. Dinkins has served six consecutive two-year terms as the USTA's director at large and is currently the longest-serving member on the USTA Board of Directors.
Since its inception in 1999, the award's recipients have included Billie Jean King, Lindsay Davenport and Mike and Bob Bryan.
Dinkins was mayor from 1990-93, and a key player in the planning and construction of Arthur Ashe Stadium at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
-- Eddie Pells
U.S. Open Glance
NEW YORK (AP) — A look at Tuesday's play at the $22.7 million U.S. Open tennis championships:
WEATHER: Mostly sunny and warm. High of 87.
ATTENDANCE: Day: 24,324. Night: 19,310. Total: 43,634.
MEN'S RESULTS: Fourth Round: No. 1 Rafael Nadal beat No. 23 Feliciano Lopez in straight sets; No. 8 Fernando Verdasco beat No. 10 David Ferrer in five sets; No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny beat unseeded Tommy Robredo in four sets; No. 25 Stanislas Wawrinka defeated No. 20 Sam Querrey, the last remaining American, in five sets.
WOMEN'S RESULTS: Quarterfinals: No. 2 Kim Clijsters needed three sets to defeat No. 5 Sam Stosur; No. 3 Venus Williams beat No. 6 Francesca Schiavone in straight sets.
ON COURT WEDNESDAY: Men, Quarterfinals: No. 2 Roger Federer vs. No. 5 Robin Soderling, No. 3 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 17 Gael Monfils. Women, Quarterfinals: No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki vs. unseeded Dominika Cibulkova, No. 7 Vera Zvonareva vs. No. 31 Kaia Kanepi.
STAT OF THE DAY: Only one American man (Andy Roddick at the Australian Open) reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament this year.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Roger, he's always in quarterfinals since many years, so that's not something different. But for me, it's my first time, so it's something important for my career." — Stanislas Wawrinka, on reaching a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time.
WEDNESDAY ON TV (All Times EDT): Tennis Channel, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (live), 11 p.m.-Mid (highlights); ESPN2, 1-7 p.m. (live), 7-11 p.m. (live)
ON THIS DATE: Sept. 8, 1990: Gabriela Sabatini upsets Steffi Graf for the women's singles title. It is the only major title Sabatini will win.
Other Tennis News
Monfils, Gasquet to lead France against Argentina
PARIS (AP) — France captain Guy Forget has called up Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet to face Argentina in next week's Davis Cup semifinal.
France will host Argentina on an indoor hard-court in Lyon from Sept. 17-19.
Monfils beat Gasquet this week to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open.
The French team also includes Michael Llodra and Gilles Simon, with the experienced Arnaud Clement picked as a replacement on Tuesday.
Forget is without Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has just resumed training after an injury layoff. Julien Benneteau is out for at least six weeks with a wrist injury.
Benneteau's absence will force Forget to change his doubles lineup. Benneteau has been teaming with Michael Llodr.
France reached the semifinals with a 5-0 win over defending champion Spain.
