Spoiler:
French star aims to extend 5-0 lead against Anderson on Monday
To some Gael Monfils is an unfulfilled talent, to others he is misunderstood. On Friday, at The Championships, Monfils knuckled down, grit his teeth and booked a place in the fourth round for the first time on his 10th appearance at the All England Club, Wimbledon.
Monfils displayed the very best of his powerful, free-flowing game on Centre Court, the sport’s grandest stage, in a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory to end American Sam Querrey’s hopes of another deep run for the second consecutive year.
“I think I was playing good,” said Monfils. “I just had a bad service game at 5-6. I was timing the ball well, but he was serving big at the beginning. So it was tough for me to read his serve. I knew I just had to wait a little bit [and] be patient. I knew, for sure, have an opportunity on his serve. just had to take them and keep doing what I was doing with my serve. That was the key.”
The victory, over two hours and eight minutes, may be the impetus the Frenchman needs to rise from his current position of No. 44 in the ATP Rankings and back closer to his career-high of No. 6, attained on 7 November 2016 before knee, Achilles tendon injuries along with illness hastened his slide last season.
After a two-day break, Monfils will look to extend his 5-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against Kevin Anderson, the eighth seed, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber on Friday. The pair has not met before on grass, with their last meeting coming in October 2016.
“He's a type of guy who never really likes to rally,” said Monfils, when asked about Anderson. “He wants to shorten the points, even against a guy like me. It will be a tough one, even more on grass. I think Kevin has been maintaining his level for a while now. He's a very solid player.”
Querrey admitted, “[Gael's] always tough. If he's locked in, engaged, playing well, he's tough. He's got a big serve, and then on the return games he's lengthy, so he can stab balls back in play. He's got great passing shots. He baits you to come in and if you don't come in on something that's good enough, he's going to hit a good pass by you or make you hit a tough volley.”
Querrey needed to bide his time for the first break, but performed well in the key moments — just as he had done in reaching last year’s semi-finals — and clinched Monfils’ serve at 6-5 in the first set, when the Frenchman struck a forehand long. Sixteen winners, including nine aces, suggested Querrey was on the rise after 37 minutes of play, with Monfils winning just 30 per cent of his second-service points.
But the setback only fortified Monfils’ resolve of another close contest, following on from victories in their two previous meetings at Portschach in 2007 and at the Citi Open two years ago. Querrey missed a forehand volley to hand Monfils a 4-3 advantage, then, at the same stage in the third set, Monfils struck a forehand winner to take control.
"He plays good defence and some great passing shots," said Querrey. "I felt like I never really truly got comfortable out there. In the third set, he hit a running forehand passing shot on the line to break me. In the first game of the fourth set, he hit a little backhand passing shot on the line again. He hit some good shots to break me in those games."
It was one-way traffic for Monfils in the 23-minute fourth set, starting with a backhand winner to break Querrey’s serve in the first game. Monfils finished with an ace, his 18th, in a dominant service performance.
Monfils, who is now 21-12 on the season — highlighted by winning his seventh ATP World Tour trophy at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (d. Rublev) — reached last week's Turkish Airlines Open Antalya semi-finals (l. to Mannarino). Querrey had been contesting his 100th match at a Grand Slam championship (54-46 overall).
Did You Know?
Monfils has previously reached the quarter-finals (or better) at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open, but not at Wimbledon. Since making his debut in 2006 (l. to Ancic in the third round), the Frenchman has compiled a 16-9 match record at the All England Club.
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To some Gael Monfils is an unfulfilled talent, to others he is misunderstood. On Friday, at The Championships, Monfils knuckled down, grit his teeth and booked a place in the fourth round for the first time on his 10th appearance at the All England Club, Wimbledon.
Monfils displayed the very best of his powerful, free-flowing game on Centre Court, the sport’s grandest stage, in a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory to end American Sam Querrey’s hopes of another deep run for the second consecutive year.
“I think I was playing good,” said Monfils. “I just had a bad service game at 5-6. I was timing the ball well, but he was serving big at the beginning. So it was tough for me to read his serve. I knew I just had to wait a little bit [and] be patient. I knew, for sure, have an opportunity on his serve. just had to take them and keep doing what I was doing with my serve. That was the key.”
The victory, over two hours and eight minutes, may be the impetus the Frenchman needs to rise from his current position of No. 44 in the ATP Rankings and back closer to his career-high of No. 6, attained on 7 November 2016 before knee, Achilles tendon injuries along with illness hastened his slide last season.
After a two-day break, Monfils will look to extend his 5-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against Kevin Anderson, the eighth seed, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber on Friday. The pair has not met before on grass, with their last meeting coming in October 2016.
“He's a type of guy who never really likes to rally,” said Monfils, when asked about Anderson. “He wants to shorten the points, even against a guy like me. It will be a tough one, even more on grass. I think Kevin has been maintaining his level for a while now. He's a very solid player.”
Querrey admitted, “[Gael's] always tough. If he's locked in, engaged, playing well, he's tough. He's got a big serve, and then on the return games he's lengthy, so he can stab balls back in play. He's got great passing shots. He baits you to come in and if you don't come in on something that's good enough, he's going to hit a good pass by you or make you hit a tough volley.”
Querrey needed to bide his time for the first break, but performed well in the key moments — just as he had done in reaching last year’s semi-finals — and clinched Monfils’ serve at 6-5 in the first set, when the Frenchman struck a forehand long. Sixteen winners, including nine aces, suggested Querrey was on the rise after 37 minutes of play, with Monfils winning just 30 per cent of his second-service points.
But the setback only fortified Monfils’ resolve of another close contest, following on from victories in their two previous meetings at Portschach in 2007 and at the Citi Open two years ago. Querrey missed a forehand volley to hand Monfils a 4-3 advantage, then, at the same stage in the third set, Monfils struck a forehand winner to take control.
"He plays good defence and some great passing shots," said Querrey. "I felt like I never really truly got comfortable out there. In the third set, he hit a running forehand passing shot on the line to break me. In the first game of the fourth set, he hit a little backhand passing shot on the line again. He hit some good shots to break me in those games."
It was one-way traffic for Monfils in the 23-minute fourth set, starting with a backhand winner to break Querrey’s serve in the first game. Monfils finished with an ace, his 18th, in a dominant service performance.
Monfils, who is now 21-12 on the season — highlighted by winning his seventh ATP World Tour trophy at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (d. Rublev) — reached last week's Turkish Airlines Open Antalya semi-finals (l. to Mannarino). Querrey had been contesting his 100th match at a Grand Slam championship (54-46 overall).
Did You Know?
Monfils has previously reached the quarter-finals (or better) at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open, but not at Wimbledon. Since making his debut in 2006 (l. to Ancic in the third round), the Frenchman has compiled a 16-9 match record at the All England Club.
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