Monfils Leads Frenchmen Into Shanghai Second Round

Ninth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils booked his place in the Rolex Shanghai Masters second round on Monday with a 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3 victory over Lorenzo Sonego of Italy in two hours and 38 minutes. He will next face Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

Watch Hot Shot: Monfils Scrambles To Finish In Style

Monfils added 45 points to his 2019 ATP Race To London tally and moved to within 10 points of 11th-placed Japanese Kei Nishikori (2,180), who remains sidelined due to injury. There are three remaining singles berths left up for grabs at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Monfils competed at the season finale in 2016, but remains 85 points behind eighth-placed Alexander Zverev (2,255). Buy Your London Tickets

Elsewhere, Monfils’ compatriot, Benoit Paire, set up a second-round clash against Georgian No. 15 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, after beating Marco Cecchinato of Italy 6-2, 7-5. French qualifier Jeremy Chardy broke a two-match losing streak against Briton Kyle Edmund with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory. Edmund drops to 12-20 on the season, while Chardy goes on to meet fourth-seeded German Zverev.