Allez, Gael! La Monf Saves MP To Advance

Could a Gael Monfils match possibly end quietly? It looked that way as Horacio Zeballos led 5-2 in the third set of their first-round encounter at the Rio Open presented by Claro on Tuesday evening. The Frenchman even faced match point as the left-hander served for the match at 5-3.

But Monfils would find his entertaining best to win the final five games of the match to clinch a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 victory against the Argentine.

The recent Qatar ExxonMobil Open champion, who also advanced to the semi-finals at the Argentina Open last week, is now five-for-five in opening-round matches this season. He continues his pursuit of a second title in 2018 — if he wins another trophy this year, it will be the first time Monfils has won multiple titles in an individual season.

But more immediately, ‘La Monf’ set up a blockbuster second-round battle against top seed and World No. 3 Marin Cilic, who advanced on Monday. Monfils has won both matches in their FedEx ATP Head2Head, including a meeting less than two years ago in Rio at the Olympics.

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Third seed Pablo Carreno Busta, who lost in his first match at his past two events (Quito, Buenos Aires), got back on track by defeating qualifier Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 6-1 in 64 minutes. That evens the Spaniard’s tour-level record for the year (4-4) as he attempts to defend finalist points from Rio de Janeiro last year (l. to Thiem).

Sixth seed Diego Schwartzman moved on when #NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud retired down 1-4 in the opening set. The Argentine next plays someone who will certainly be riding high on confidence. 

His opponent, Federico Delbonis, captured his 100th tour-level win when Czech Jiri Vesely retired down 2-6, 2-3.

“It means a lot,” Delbonis said. “To have 100 match wins, it’s a big challenge and I’m so happy to reach it.”

Nine of the Argentine’s victories have been against opponents inside the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings. The left-hander is in-form, too, having made the semi-finals in Buenos Aires last week (l. to Bedene).