Andy Murray beat Gaël Monfils 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday in the first round of the ATP Challenger 175 tournament in Aix-en-Provence (clay), nine years after the last confrontation between the two players. In a quarter-final at Roland-Garros in 2014, the Briton won in five sets against the French (6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-0). Often injured in recent seasons, Murray, soon to be 36, and Monfils, who will be 37 in September, have not crossed paths since. The reunion between the two players, both invited by the organizers of the Challenger d’Aix-en-Provence, turned to the advantage of the Scotsman.
The former world number 1, now 52nd, twice broke against the former number 6, who fell to 332nd place to take the first set 6-3. Murray showed his knowledge of the game and his usual qualities as a defender while taking advantage of three double faults from Monfils during crucial points. Better entered the second set, the French however again gave up his face-off several times to lose 6-3, 6-2 in 1:22.
Hip prosthesis
Winner of three Grand Slam tournaments (US Open 2012, Wimbledon 2013 and 2016) and double Olympic gold medalist, Murray plays with a metal hip prosthesis, fitted after a serious injury suffered in 2019. Monfils reappeared on the circuit in early March in Indiana Wells, after seven months of absence due to a foot injury. “He is coming back from a long injury, it is difficult at our age. We are no longer very young! He is a good friend. He is a player that I have always loved to see play”, paid tribute to him Murray at the edge of the court.
“I don’t feel as good as I would like, but as I said it’s hard at our age. The game is changing very quickly, but I’m happy to be here and to play matches”, rejoiced the Scottish. He will face another Frenchman in the next round, Laurent Lokoli (187th), who defeated Spaniard Albert Ramos (60th) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
“Open your ears!”
At the end of the afternoon, Arthur Fils (124th) emerged victorious from a 100% French duel against Grégoire Barrère (56th in the world) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4). Barrère, 29, who had beaten the 18-year-old in the Quimper Challenger final at the end of January (6-1, 6-4), this time was surprised by his young opponent who pushed him to a third set.
In this last round, however, Son lost his nerves when he sharply challenged the referee on a service ball from his opponent which he believed had hit the net. “She’s ‘let’, she’s ‘let’, open your ears! I already suck, help me, the young player yelled at the referee. You don’t talk to me like that,” replied this last.
But it was Fils who proved to be the most solid in the decisive game of the last set. He will meet in the next round another Frenchman, Quentin Halys, winner of the Dutchman Robin Haase (number 280), 7-5, 7-5. Another match will oppose two French people in the second round: Adrian Mannarino, 34 (46th) against Luca Van Assche, 18 (84th), who recently became the first Frenchman to enter the Top 100 before his 19th birthday since Gaël Monfils in 2005.