Monfils Moves Past Mannarino In Montpellier

Top seed Gael Monfils navigated a tough match-up against fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier for the fifth time in his seventh appearance.

The two-time champion earned 14 break points against the unorthodox lefty, converting five of his chances to advance after two hours and one minute. Monfils, the World No. 9, will face Slovakian Norbert Gombos for a spot in the semi-finals.

Mannarino has proven a tough opponent for Monfils, as they split their four previous ATP Head2Head meetings. But Monfils has now won two in a row, also defeating the 31-year-old World No. 45 last year at Roland Garros.

Monfils is off to a good start in 2020, having reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. Last November, he returned to the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time since February 2017, finishing inside the year-end Top 10 for the second time (2016).

The Frenchman has reached a tour-level final in 15 straight years, and he is now just two victories from extending that streak to 16 consecutive seasons. Monfils is trying to lift his first ATP Tour trophy on home soil since 2014, when he triumphed in Montpellier.

World No. 104 Gombos reached the last eight by defeating #NextGenATP Norwegian Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 6-4. Gombos converted all three of his break points to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final since last year’s Citi Open in Washington, D.C.