Monfils Keeps Pressure On Fellow Contenders In Pursuit Of London Spot
Monfils Keeps Pressure On Fellow Contenders In Pursuit Of London Spot
Bautista Agut loses to De Minaur
Gael Monfils kept up the pressure on Alexander Zverev and Matteo Berrettini in their bids to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals with a second-round victory at the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday.
Monfils, the No. 13 seed and runner-up at the ATP Masters 1000 event in 2009 and 2010, knocked out fellow Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-4, 7-6(4) in 86 minutes to add 90 points to his 2019 ATP Race To London tally.
The 33-year-old Monfils is currently in 11th position (2,440 points), 220 points behind eighth-placed Berrettini (2,660), who plays 2008 Paris champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga later today. Monfils appeared at the 2016 season finale at The O2 in London.
Monfils escaped from 0/40 at 2-2 in the first set, and, after Paire hit his first double fault of the match at 4-5, 30/30, Monfils struck a brilliant forehand down the line to clinch the 33-minute opener.
Paire took a 2/0 lead in the second set tie-break, but his forehand soon began to break down and Monfils won the next four points. The match ended when Paire hit a forehand volley into the net.
Monfils, who captured his eighth ATP Tour title at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (d. Wawrinka) in February, is now 36-17 on the season and goes on to face Moldovan Radu Albot on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Australia’s Alex de Minaur, who will bid to retain his title at the Next Gen ATP Finals next week in Milan, held his nerve to beat the consistent Roberto Bautista Agut, who sits in ninth position in the 2019 ATP Race To London (2,530 points).
De Minaur moved up one place to 17th (1,775 points) after a 7-6(2), 7-6(1) win over Bautista Agut in two hours and 17 minutes, having recovered from a 3-5 deficit and saved two set points at 4-5 in the second set.
He will now challenge seventh seed and first-time Nitto ATP Finals qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas, who won 35 of 38 first-service points in a 7-6(3), 6-3 win over American Taylor Fritz in 74 minutes. Tsitsipas is now 49-23 in a career-best season, which includes two ATP Tour titles at the Open 13 Provence (d. Kukushkin) and at the Millennium Estoril Open (d. Cuevas).
