Cédric Chasseur, with AFP / Photo credits: Mert Alper Dervis / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP
The French Gaël Monfils, fallen to the 276th place in the world, clearly beat in two sets 6-4 6-3 the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, world number 4, Wednesday in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Toronto (hard). Monfils, 36, wins against a Top 10 player in the ATP rankings for the first time since March 2022 and a victory against Danil Medvedev, then world number 1, at the Indian Wells Masters 1000. It is only his third success against one of the ten best players in the world since 2019.
A controlled match against an in-form Tsitsipas
Once again very supported by the Canadian public, Monfils achieved a controlled first set, in which he broke away at 4-2 after taking the serve of his opponent. He concluded with a shutout to pocket it 6-4. Aggressive in forehand, he started the second set on the same basis, managing to break Tsitsipas from the start. He converted his second match point to win on the Greek service 6-3 in 1h 26min.
Tsistipas, however winner of the tenth title of his career on Saturday at the ATP 250 tournament in Los Cabos, committed too many unforced errors and lacked serenity on his face-off to overturn the match. “I knew that Stefanos (Tsitsipas) was very confident at the moment after his last tournament victory. So you had to hit hard, put in a lot and not let the game be dictated,” Monfils said after the meeting, to his exit from the court.
Last French in the running in Toronto
In the first round, he had already put in a solid performance by dismissing Christopher Eubanks, 29th and recent surprise quarter-finalist at Wimbledon, 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (4/7), 6-1. By winning his 350th victory on hard surface, the Parisian confirms his return to form by therefore chaining a second consecutive tournament with two victories, a week after that of Washington.
He will face Australian Aleksandar Vukic in the next round for a place in the quarter-finals. Monfils is therefore the last Frenchman in the running after the defeat of Ugo Humbert, 34th in the world, who fought well but ended up losing to the American Taylor Fritz, 9th player in the world, 7-6 (9/7) 3-6 6-3.