(Tennis news) The Frenchman stunned fourth-seeded Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto. Monfils, who was playing only his 11th match of the year due to injury, delivered many moments of astounding power and finesse on his way to a one-hour, 25-minute victory.
Monfils’ win against Tsitsipas on Wednesday marked his 350th tour-level triumph on hard courts, and it might be seen as a message that the 36-year-old is returning to his crowd-pleasing best after a curtailed schedule in 2023. Tsitsipas, an ATP 250 champion in Los Cabos just four days earlier, was defeated by the Frenchman, who converted three of six breakpoints he garnered.
“I knew that Stef had a lot of confidence,” said Monfils after the match. “He would try to go for his shots. I tried to put a lot of balls in, tried to hit quite heavy and not let him dictate too much. I think I did it well.”
Monfils’ performance included a trademark leaping forehand in the eighth game of the opening set and an 188 km/h forehand winner two games later to bring up set point. It was Monfils’ first victory over a Top 5 opponent since defeating then-World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev last year in Indian Wells.
“It’s always the same. Stay very calm in the head and go for a simple choice,” said Monfils when asked about closing out the match against the Greek. “Maybe I was too simple on the first match point [today] because I could maybe have un leashed one forehand more, but he did it before me. To be honest, I just tried to be cool and try to do what I did during the match. No panic, in a way.”
Monfils struggled to finish off Christopher Eubanks in his Toronto debut, forcing the American to a third set after allowing two match opportunities to slip. Tsitsipas, on the other hand, confidently levelled the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 2-2.
Monfils, a two-time semi-finalist at the Canadian Masters 1000, will face either Sebastian Korda or Aleksandar Vukic in the third round.
Also read: Taylor Fritz secures a double victory in a single day, advancing to the semifinals in Washington
