The French Gaël Monfils, 221st player in the world, achieved a new performance by eliminating the Australian Alex De Minaur, 12th, 7-5 6-4 in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati. He will face Serbian and world number 2 Novak Djokovic in the next round. A player he has never beaten in 18 confrontations.
The French Gaël Monfils, 221st player in the world, achieved a new performance by eliminating the Australian Alex De Minaur, 12th, 7-5 6-4 in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati. He will face Serbian and world number 2 Novak Djokovic in the round of 16. The match is scheduled for Thursday night to Friday.
This is a new performance for the Parisian, who had dismissed the Briton Cameron Norrie, 15th in the world, in three sets (3-6, 6-4, 6-3) in the first round. Last week, he had already made a good run at the Masters 1000 in Toronto where he notably beat the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, 4th in the world.
❤️ #CincyTennis | @Gael_Monfilspic.twitter.com/J0oBm9N6fL
— Western & Southern Open (@CincyTennis) August 16, 2023
“A battle of veterans”
“It will be a battle of veterans,” Novak Djokovic said of the clash to follow. The Serb won against the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, forced to retire due to injury. “He’s the most charismatic player we’ve had in the last two decades,” he added of his future opponent.
The worst H2H of the Open era for men:
Djokovic v Monfils (18/0)
Nadal v Gasquet (18/0)
Borg vs. Gerulaitis (17/0)
Lendl v Mayotte (17/0)
Federer v Ferrer (17/0)
Federer vs Youzhny (17/0)No one beats Gael Monfils 19 times by… pic.twitter.com/fTM662nHcC
— Game, Set and Maths (@JeuSetMaths) August 17, 2023
Novak Djokovic has consistently won in his 18 games against Gaël Monfils. This is also the greatest series of victory for a player against the same opponent, tied with Rafael Nadal against Richard Gasquet. If successful, Gaël Monfils would end his scarcity against the world number 2.