Monfils Upends Dimitrov to Reach Monte Carlo Semis

April 17, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Gael_monfils
Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg

 

Gael Monfils continued his deep run at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over ninth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov on Friday.

The 14th-seeded Frenchman breezed through the opening set in just 22 minutes, jumping on a bevy of unforced errors from Dimitrov. Monfils broke him three times thanks to 22 unforced errors.

He jumped out again in the second set, going up 5-2 before eventually closing it out 6-3 to take the straight-set victory.

“Today, I wanted to make him run a lot, left [to] right, left [to] right on a lot of points,” said Monfils. “I tried to dictate with my forehand, move him around the court, short [and] back. I was like trying to play very deep.”

Monfils will meet sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych in the semifinals. Berdych led 5-2 over Milos Raonic when the Canadian retired with an injured foot. Berdych is 5-1 in his career against Monfils.

“So far everything is going well,” said Berdych. “My preparation is really good. I’ve done as much as I could, playing on the clay right after Miami, which is a good sign for me. I’m able to execute in the matches.”

The other semifinal in Monte Carlo is a star-studded one as world number one Novak Djokovic will play third-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic breezed past U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-3 on Friday to book his spot in the final four.

“The first set went completely my way,” said Djokovic. “I knew he was going to start to change some things in his game so he could start to play a little bit better. But I made a crucial break at the beginning of the second. The first eight games were really fantastic.”

Nadal faced a tougher task in his quarterfinal matchup, going the distance with fellow Spaniard David Ferrer for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory.

Nadal looked to be in control early, taking the first set 6-4 and racing out to a 3-0 advantage in the second set. But Ferrer wouldn’t go down quietly, and won seven of the next nine games to take the second set and force the match into a decider.

An early break point in the third set pushed the momentum back onto Nadal’s side of the court. He followed that up with a break in the seventh game and calmly took the final set 6-2 for a two hour and 45 minute victory. Nadal is now 327-25 in his career on clay.

“Every day is a different day,” said Nadal. “Every day is a chance for me to improve, to be more confident, to find the feelings I need to find to play my best game. I think this tournament has been the best tournament since the beginning for me in terms of concentration, in terms of nerves; general nerves. I didn’t play with the nerves that I was playing with in the previous tournaments. I feel, in the important points, I have been able to play the way that I wanted to play.”

Nadal leads the all-time series 23-19 over Djokovic. 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
USTA NTC
Oneononedoubles banner art resize

March/April 2024 Digital Edition