There are players on tour that have been there for some number of years.  Not everyone who plays pro tennis hoists trophies week after week.  Some labor even when titles are scarce.  After all, they are still among the top 100 or so players in the world.

More than ten years ago, Gilles Muller, from the small country of Luxembourg reached the finals of the 2001 junior Wimbledon and won the 2001 junior US Open.  He was ranked number 1 as a junior that year.  One might expect that he would have a fruitful career, but being a top junior can be hit or miss.  Players that were ranked highly may fizzle as a pro, and players that had a so-so junior career might blossom as a pro.

Muller has become, however, answer to various trivia questions.  For example, when Nadal lost in the second round of Wimbledon, a question was asked “When was the last time Nadal lost that early in a Slam and who did he lose to?”.  The answer was 2005 Wimbledon, and the man was Gilles Muller.  Later that year, American Express would put out a campaign at the start of the US Open asking what had happened to Andy Roddick’s mojo in an ad campaign as misbegotten as the Dan and Dave Olympic decathlon campaign by Reebok.  Andy Roddick would lose in the first round of the US Open to, yes, Gilles Muller.

Muller is only two years younger than Roger Federer, but there’s a big difference in one category: tournaments won.  Roger Federer has won 75 titles and Muller?  None.  Muller turned pro in 2001 and now it’s 2012.  Indeed, Muller has only reached the finals twice in his career.  Both were in the US and both were against former number 1s.

In 2004, he reached the finals of Washington DC, losing to Muller.  In 2005, he lost in the finals of Los Angeles to Andre Agassi.  He might play former number 1, Andy Roddick, in the final of Atlanta.  Oh yes, Atlanta was the site of Roddick’s first title which, incidentally, was played on clay.

OK, so back to the match.

This was one bad match for Go Soeda.  Soeda struggled mightily to return serve.  Muller was spinning second serves at, yes, close to 100 mph, but even a speedy second serve should be returnable.  Soeda just couldn’t get serves back so Muller had little trouble holding serve.  Muller got a break late in the first set, and a break in the middle of the second.  As helpless as Soeda looked in the semis, he looked dominant in the quarters beating countryman, Kei Nishikori.

With this win, Muller will get another chance to win his first title, though whoever wins the other semis, that player is likely to be favored.

The Isner-Roddick match is currently being played and delayed due to rain.

In Gstaad, Tipsarevic continues to show his good for on clay with a 76 63 win over former top 20 player, Paul-Henri Mathieu, needing a 12-10 tiebreak to take the first set.  Grigor Dimitrov is still trying to get to his first final, pushing Thomaz Bellucci to two tiebreaks but losing both.

In Hamburg, there were two upsets.  Juan Monaco came back from one set down to upset Nicolas Almagro, 36 63 64,

And, the ever-injured Tommy Haas, played great tennis.  He came from a break down in the first set to win the first set in a tiebreak over Marin Cilic, then took the second set, 60.

Thus, Monaco will play Haas for the finals of Hamburg.