2023-08-08 04:44:00
Monfils confirms its revival
His performance in Washington last week was promising. And so it was not without a future. Gaël Monfils climbed to a high level of play on the night of Monday to Tuesday in Toronto to overcome the obstacle Christopher Eubanks in the 1st round of the Masters 1000 in Toronto. The current 276th in the world, entered the Canadian table thanks to a protected ranking, therefore got the better of the American sensation of the summer and quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in three sets (7-6, 6-7, 6-1) and 2 hours 26 minutes into the game. He will be opposed to the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, world number 4 and just titled in Los Cabos, in his next match.
The ex-number 1 tricolor had all the more merit that he could have been frustrated by failing to conclude earlier. In the second act, he thus led 5-3, then obtained two match points at the restart at 6-5, before finding himself in front of 4 points to 1 in the tie-break… to finally see Eubanks register six points in a row and re-roll everything. If he hadn’t regained some confidence in his game in Washington, Monfils would certainly have suffered in the third set. On the contrary, he went forward again to the delight of Canadian fans.
While above all he focused on staying solid and putting as many balls back into play as possible (20 unforced errors against his opponent’s 62!), the Frenchman produced high quality defensive tennis. After breaking the entry American in the 3rd round, he went for an anthology point to escape definitively (7-6, 6-7, 4-1), running to the four corners of the court before slip a winning passing. “I had to refocus on simple things: using my movement speed, being more aggressive after getting tensed up and letting it dictate too much. My ground coverage was key,” he said. testified after his success.
Mannarino disappoints
The other tricolor veteran on track on Monday was less successful. Adrian Mannarino failed to get rid of the Japanese Taro Daniel, 115th in the world and from qualifying. In this close duel between blockers, he did not manage to manage the end of sets well, finally losing 7-6, 6-4 in 1h51 in this 1st round.
After coming up an entry break, “Manna” got a first set ball at the raise at 5-4, without managing to convert it, before giving in to the tie-break. In the second act, he again came up with a late service, before letting go of his commitment again at the worst time, at 5-4 against him. Titled on the turf of Newport at the end of July, the French left-hander has been less successful since his recovery on hard court: he also lost on entering Washington last week.
helpless barre
A small turn and then goes away. Grégoire Barrère’s adventure at the Masters 1000 in Toronto only lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, the time to lose in two sets against Matteo Berrettini in the first round (6-4, 6-3), Monday evening.
The opposition was tough for the Frenchman, even if his opponent, victim of recurring physical problems since last season, had not played since his round of 16 loss against Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon on July 10. The Roman appeared in better shape on center court, leaving only crumbs for Barrère. The latter stagnated at 44% of firsts and made ten winners less than the Italian (24). Berrettini thus offers himself an unprecedented clash with his compatriot Jannik Sinner in the second round.
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