Monfils Upsets Home Favourite In Toronto

Gael Monfils brushed off a rare packed crowd rooting against him to reach his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final of the season at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Friday night.

The Frenchman refused to fold against the home favourite Milos Raonic, never losing his serve and breaking the big-serving Canadian twice to advance 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 12 minutes. Time and time again it looked as if Raonic would gain the upper hand with thousands cheering for him, only for Monfils to rally and hold serve.

“I think I’m a guy [who’s] always pumped up. Any energy, I take it. Even if it’s for me or not for me, I take it,” Monfils said.

The 29 year old, who also reached the final in Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, will face top seed Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s second semi-final contest. The Serbian is undefeated against Monfils, 11-0.

The Frenchman will bring a streak of his own into the last four match-up – nine, as in the number of matches Monfils has now won in a row, dating back to his title run in Washington. The ATP World Tour 500 championship was his biggest title victory yet, and he’s carried that momentum into Toronto.

Watch live tennis at tennistv.com

At 3-4 in the first set, Raonic guided a forehand wide to give Monfils the break, which the Paris native celebrated with a scream that fell on hushed, partisan ears. The next game, Monfils dug in to erase three break points and held serve with a service winner after five deuces.

“I had some opportunities, and tonight I just made them,” Monfils said.

At 4-all in the second set, the Frenchman erased another break point and held after two more deuces. He broke Raonic at love to another scream and a fist pump to his team. Monfils clinched the quarter-final match with his seventh ace.

“He was doing a lot of good things. He played well. He played smart in the right moments. He was making the shots,” Raonic said. “I’ll look back at this and give it the right amount of perspective and try to take it to the next process, next step forward, to be better next time.”