ATP Rotterdam: Gael Monfils ends Daniil Medvedev's run to reach the final
Rotterdam finalist from three years ago Gael Monfils will have another opportunity to win the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, beating the 5th seed Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and eight minutes to advance into his 29th ATP title. Gael will seek the first title since the start of 2018 and Doha, scoring his first win over Daniil who toppled him in the semi-final in Sofia seven days ago. The Frenchman had the upper hand today, recovering after losing the opener and beating the rival who has won 14 of 17 matches in 2019 and seven in a row before this loss.
Monfils served at 76% and that made the difference in comparison to 57% that Medvedev landed in, despite four breaks that the youngster grabbed from five opportunities. Usually, that would have been good enough for him to cross the finish line first but not today, struggling to make an impact with the second serve and having to play against ten break chances, suffering five breaks and finishing on the losing side. Medvedev was the favorite and he drew first blood in game five after a double fault from Gael who pulled the break back in game eight when Daniil hit a forehand wide to lose the advantage.
Instead of building the momentum, Monfils suffered another break at 4-4 and he netted a routine forehand in the following game to hand the opener to the Russian. Gael had the advantage at the beginning of the second set, opening a 3-0 lead before squandering it with a double fault at 3-1 to bring Daniil back to the positive side of the scoreboard. Nonetheless, the Frenchman kept his focus and the drive on the return, forcing an error from Medvedev in the game that followed to open the gap and complete the set with a service winner at 5-3 to set up a decider.
He moved ahead at the start of the third set as well but Daniil was ready to fight until the very last point, breaking back in game six after a loose drop shot from Gael and becoming the favorite to win the match now. It wasn't to be for him, though, dropping 12 of the last 16 points to send Gael into the final against Kei Nishikori or Stan Wawrinka, suffering a break in game nine after a forced error and making another one in the next game to propel his rival closer to the title.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2EdqB82
No comments