Monfils Eliminated in Five Sets by Fucsovics at Wimbledon After Serving for the Match
Gaël Monfils will not advance past the second round this year at Wimbledon. After his marathon first-round victory against his compatriot Ugo Humbert (6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 in 3h56), the 38-year-old Frenchman faced a second-round match against Marton Fucsovics, a Hungarian lucky loser ranked 105th in the world.
In their head-to-head matchups, Monfils leads 3-1 against his opponent of the day, but Fucsovics had won their last encounter in Estoril last year on clay.
The match spanned two days. While Monfils had served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set, Fucsovics—who had defeated Aleksandar Kovacevic in five sets in the first round—found the resources to break back before forcing a fifth set, which was decided by a tiebreak. The battle between the two was then suspended last night due to insufficient light.
The two players returned to the court on Friday afternoon to play the fifth and final set. More comfortable on serve than the previous day, Fucsovics secured an early break and held his service games until the end.
Monfils, who had let his chance slip away on Thursday evening, ultimately fell after a second grueling battle in the tournament (6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 in 3h43). Meanwhile, Fucsovics, temporarily back in the top 100, will face Ben Shelton for a spot in the round of 16.
