Monfils pulls off the feat against Alcaraz, then breaks down against Rune!
On Friday, Gaël Monfils pulled off the unthinkable feat of dominating Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters 1000. In a match that had been interrupted by rain on Thursday at 6-4, 6-6 in favor of the Spaniard, the Frenchman managed to play his best tennis to turn the tables and win in two and a half hours (4-6, 7-6[5], 6-4).
Impressive in the 2nd set to turn the match around, Monfils then proved more solid than Alcaraz to lock up the 3rd set. He broke in the 3rd game (2-1), then held his serve perfectly to complete the job.
The Frenchman didn't have much time to savor his performance, however, as he was back on Center Court an hour and a half later for his 3rd round match against Holger Rune. He got off to the best possible start, dominating his young opponent in the battle from the baseline (6-3). But the Dane was able to react, showing himself to be much more offensive and not hesitating to come to the net on a regular basis.
Monfils, on the other hand, didn't have the energy to react. He quickly conceded a break in the last two sets, with his head down, and ended up losing in two hours and three sets (3-6, 6-3, 6-4). But that was not enough to spoil his pleasure at having climbed the Alcaraz mountain, thought to be completely inaccessible to him.
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