Monfils Powers Hot Shot Past Nadal Monte Carlo 2016
Monfils Powers Hot Shot Past Nadal Monte Carlo 2016
Apr172016
The Czech Republic will take on France in the Fed Cup final after both teams came through decisive doubles contests to win their semi-finals.
France’s Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic saw off surprise semi-finalists the Netherlands in Trelaze.
Karolina Pliskova and Lucie Hradecka gave the Czechs victory over Switzerland in Lucerne.
The Czech Republic will try to win the Fed Cup for the fifth time in six years in November’s final.
Kiki Bertens beat Mladenovic in singles to put the Dutch 2-1 up against France, and within sight of another huge shock after they beat Russia in Moscow in the quarter-finals.
However, Garcia then beat 257th-ranked Arantxa Rus in straight sets, before teaming up with Mladenovic to battle past Bertens and Richel Hogenkamp 4-6 6-3 6-3 in the doubles.
“It’s difficult to get so close to your goal and then lose, it’s hard to take,” said Dutch captain Paul Haarhuis.
Viktorija Golubic, ranked 129th in the world, had kept Switzerland in touch with the Czechs thanks to two singles wins, but she and Martina Hingis went down 6-2 6-2 to Pliskova and Hradecka in the decider.
“It was sensational the way they played,” said Czech captain Petr Pala.
“The key was the depth of our team today. It gave me more opportunities to make the doubles team. It is a great feeling for the camp. The sprit is there, everybody wants to win the cup.”
The final will take place in France, with the venue yet to be decided, on 12-13 November.
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Rafael Nadal claimed a ninth Monte Carlo Masters title with victory over Frenchman Gael Monfils.
Nadal, who beat Andy Murray in the last four, won 7-5 5-7 6-0, his 68th win from 100 finals on the ATP World Tour.
A double fault from Monfils, 29, closed out the first set in Nadal’s favour and the Spaniard recovered from losing the second to see off the 13th seed in two hours 46 minutes.
The 29-year-old has now won clay-court titles in each of the past 13 years.
Nadal won eight consecutive titles before losing the 2013 final to Novak Djokovic and called his first Masters honour since Madrid two years ago “so special”.
“I had a tough season last year, but I’ve had better preparation this year – even with a tough start to the season,” added Nadal, who withdrew from last month’s Miami Open with a virus.
“It’s great to win a Masters title again. I hope this week will help me a lot.”
It is a record-equaling 28th Masters title for Nadal, bringing him alongside top-ranked Djokovic, but a third Masters final defeat for Monfils.
They conceded 34 break points between them with Nadal converting eight of his 21 chances to edge his opponent, who managed five from 13.
Monfils, a runner-up in the Rotterdam Open in February, earned the backing of the Monte Carlo Country Club crowd as he tested Nadal throughout.
But having earlier saved set point, the pressure told on the Frenchman and he double-faulted to hand fifth seed Nadal a close-fought opening set.
The pair traded five breaks of serve in a gruelling second, but it was Monfils who edged the former world number one to level.
Nadal then took control of the decider and raced into a 5-0 lead before landing a forehand winner at match point to win for the ninth time in Monte Carlo as he builds to next month’s French Open, which he will be seeking to win for a 10th time.
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Jamie Murray and partner Bruno Soares were beaten 4-6 6-0 10-6 by French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the Monte Carlos Masters final.
The Australian Open champions won the opening set but were blown away in the second before losing the first-to-10 match tie-break that decided matters.
Murray remains top of the ATP doubles rankings after his semi-final win.
Eight-time champion Rafael Nadal plays Frenchman Gael Monfils in the singles final at 13:30 BST.
More to follow.
Rafael Nadal will attempt to win his first title of 2016 in his 100th tour-level final
The championship of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Sunday matches No. 5/eight-time champion Rafael Nadal against No. 13 seed Gael Monfils, who is the first Frenchman to reach the final here since Cedric Pioline won the title in 2000 (d. Hrbaty). Nadal is trying to capture his ninth Monte-Carlo crown and 28th ATP Masters 1000 title in his 100th career final.
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Nadal has an 11-2 career head-to-head record against Monfils, including 4-0 on clay (8-0 in sets). They first met here in the first round in 2005 and the Spaniard won 63 62 en route to his first of eight straight Monte-Carlo titles. Nadal also has won their two previous final meetings (’10 Tokyo, ’14 Doha). Their last meeting came in the semi-finals of Stuttgart last June and Nadal won 63 64 en route to the title.
Nadal is appearing in final for the 10th time (8-1) since 2005 and he’s looking to capture his first title here since 2012 (d. Djokovic). He has a tournament-best 57-4 career record and he won eight straight titles from 2005 to 2012. His 46-match Monte-Carlo winning streak came to an end in the 2013 final (l. to Djokovic). The 29-year-old Spaniard is the sixth player in the Open Era to reach at least 100 career ATP World Tour level singles finals (67-32). This is his 42nd final in an ATP Masters 1000 event (27-14) and his last Masters 1000 title came in Madrid in 2014 (d. Nishikori). He is second behind Novak Djokovic, who owns 28 ATP Masters 1000 titles. Nadal is appearing in his 56th career clay court final (47-8 mark) and he’s trying to win an ATP World Tour European clay court title for the 13th straight year (since 2004). His last title came in Hamburg on Aug. 2, 2015 (d. Fognini).
Monfils is the first double-digit seed to reach the Monte-Carlo final since No. 11 Nadal won the title in 2005. The last player outside the Top 10 to win an ATP Masters 1000 title was countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who was No. 15 when he captured the Toronto title in 2014. The 29-year-old Frenchman is making his third final showing in an ATP Masters 1000 event, having reached back-to-back finals in Paris-Bercy in 2009 (l. to Djokovic) and 2010 (l. to Soderling). Monfils has not dropped a set in five matches, holding serve 37 of 43 games, while leading the tournament in return games won (24 of 42, 57%). Monfils is trying to earn his sixth ATP World Tour title in 24th final (5-18). He is 1-8 vs. Top 10 opponents in finals with his lone win over (9) Gasquet in 2014 Montpellier. He will break the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings if he wins the title.The last time he was in the Top 10 came on Nov. 7, 2011.
WHAT’S AT STAKE:
Winner € 717,315 and 1,000 Emirates ATP Rankings points
Runner-up € 351,715 and 600 Emirates ATP Rankings points
FINALS HISTORY:
Nadal is bidding for a 28th ATP Masters 1000 title (27-14) and 68th career title (67-32 in finals)
Monfils is bidding for a 1st ATP Masters 1000 title (0-2) and 6th career title (5-18 in finals)
ATP MASTERS 1000 TITLE LEADERS: Nadal is trying to win his 28th career ATP Masters 1000 title and equal Novak Djokovic.
NADAL IN MONTE-CARLO FINALS: This is the fifth time since 2008 Nadal came into Monte-Carlo without an ATP World Tour title for the season. In the previous four times (2008, 2010-11-12), he left Monte-Carlo with the title.
Spaniard to go for 68th tour-level title
Rafael Nadal is through to his 100th tour-level final after fighting from a set down to beat Andy Murray 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a thrilling contest on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
When he faces Gael Monfils on Sunday, Nadal will challenge for his 68th tour-level crown and ninth at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where he won eight successive titles from 2005-12.
“I think I played a great second set in terms of mentality. In the third set, I played aggressive… It was a great match,” Nadal said. “It’s a very important week for me, being in a final here again in Monte-Carlo, winning against very tough opponents.”
The Spaniard is bidding to draw level with leader Novak Djokovic on 28 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles by claiming his first trophy at this level since 2014 Madrid, where he beat Kei Nishikori in the final.
After battling wins over Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Benoit Paire, the second-seeded Murray has improved throughout the week in Monte-Carlo and showed his best tennis as he dictated against Nadal in the first set. The Dunblane native did not hold back, and his aggression paid off as he broke Nadal to lead 4-2.
Murray squandered a 30/0 lead in the following game, but saved two break points with an ace and a forehand winner to stay in front, before breaking Nadal again to claim the opener.
Nadal looked set to mount a fightback as he broke Murray in the first game of the second set. But Murray continued to pummel away from the back of the court and was rewarded as he immediately levelled at 1-1. The Spaniard did not let slip a second break advantage though. After breaking Murray for a 4-3 lead, Nadal warmed to his task and rallied from 15/40 in the following game and went on to draw level.
It was all Nadal in the decider. The Spaniard was the one controlling the baseline exchanges and stepping in, taking advantage of a slight drop in Murray’s level. The Manacor native broke Murray in the first game of the third set and raced into a 5-2 lead. Murray made a last stand in an enthralling eighth game, saving four match points before creating two break chances. But Nadal stepped up to thwart Murray and converted his fifth match point in two hours and 44 minutes.
“The match overall was a pretty good match,” Murray said. “There were a few things I would have liked to have done differently out there. The third didn’t get off to the best start. Then obviously had a few opportunities in that last game to try to make it a bit more interesting, but couldn’t quite get the break.”
Nadal improved to a 57-4 record in Monte-Carlo as he reached the final for the 10th time. From 2005, he won 46 straight matches here before losing to Djokovic in the 2013 final.
“I am what I am today. I’m in the final of Monte-Carlo. That’s great news,” Nadal said. “Rafael Nadal of 2016 will not be the same of 2009 or 2008 again. Every year is different. Every feeling is different.”
The Mallorcan is bidding to win his first ATP World Tour title since July 2015, when he captured the clay-court crown in Hamburg. He started his 2016 campaign with a runner-up showing in Doha (l. to Djokovic) and subsequently reached semi-finals in Buenos Aires (l. to Thiem), Rio de Janeiro (l. to Cuevas) and Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic).
The 28-year-old Murray was looking to reach the final at the Monte-Carlo Country Club for the first time, after losing to Nadal at the semi-final stage in 2009 and 2011. Murray made his clay-court breakthrough last season, winning his first two titles on the dirt in Munich (d. Kohlschreiber) and at the Masters 1000 in Madrid, where he beat Nadal.
“He’s one of the best, if not the best ever, on this surface,” Murray said. “At times today, he played very well. When he does, you can’t always decide the outcome. He played some good stuff today and deserved to win.”