Monfils Upsets Federer to Reach Monte Carlo Quarterfinals

Gael Monfils pulled off the biggest upset of the day in Monte Carlo on Thursday, beating second-seeded Swiss Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6(5) to push his way into the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters quarterfinals.

The 14th-seeded Frenchman fell behind Federer early 1-3, but rallied to capture the first set 6-4 thanks to a couple of break points.

The second set was much different than the first with both players holding serve throughout, sending the frame into a tiebreaker. Federer looked to be sending it to a deciding third set, jumping out to a 5-3 lead in the breaker, only to see Monfils storm back to win the final four points and notch the straight set victory.

“I’m surprised I was able to increase my power so quickly,” said Monfils. “I played solid and I played better than yesterday. I was able to hit hard from the baseline; to be aggressive. I’m very pleased with the match.”

Monfils was the much sharper player all match long, hitting 22 winners and taking advantage of 38 unforced errors from Federer.

“It was not the best end to the match,” said Federer. “I should have done better with the break up in the first. I think I did a good job to hang around the second set. I also had chances of my own. It remained close, but I never felt like things were really happening the way I wanted them to be going during the whole match.”

Monfils has reached the quarterfinals in Monte Carlo for the first time in his career, and will take on ninth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov for a chance to go to the semifinals.

Dimitrov steamrolled defending champion and seventh-seeded Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday.

“I had a good level yesterday. I felt that early on today I had a good level, too,” said Dimitrov. “For me, I didn’t have to do anything else in a way. I didn’t have to improvise much. All I had to do is play a solid game…Everything else was just coming and I was playing good, game after game, starting to feel a bit more confident. I didn’t think Stan played his best tennis, that’s true. Everyone saw that. But winning is winning.”

The Bulgarian saved all six break points he faced and picked up five break points of his own.

Rafael Nadal escaped a tight three-set match with American John Isner, advancing to the final eight with a 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3 victory.

The third-seeded Spaniard and eight-time champion Nadal fought off a couple of set points to prevail in the opening set.

After Isner’s serve allowed him to take the second set, Nadal quickly snatched the momentum back in the third frame. He broke Isner and consolidated it with a hold to take a 4-1 lead, eventually serving out the remainder to advance.

Nadal faces the fifth-seed and compatriot David Ferrer, who hung on to beat 10th seeded Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-1.

US Open champion Marin Cilic notched a big win over 11th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, beating the Frenchman 6-3, 7-6(5) to advance.

The big Croatian won 75 percent of his service points and saved the only break point chance he allowed.

Up next for Cilic is world number one Novak Djokovic. The Serb cruised past Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-3, 6-0, winning 77 percent of all the points in the second set to ease into the final eight.

The other quarterfinal matchup in Monte Carlo will pit fourth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic against sixth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych.

Raonic got past 16th seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to make it through. He fired 35 winners and won the key break point in the final set to advance.

“Tommy can be tricky on any surface,” said Raonic of his opponent. “He’s been having a great 12 months. I was fortunate to get through that match. It was a lot of up and downs, but through some improvisation and fighting hard I was able to win.”

Berdych edged 12th seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut 7-6(7), 6-4, hitting 41 winners and ripping 12 aces to go along with his three break points.

The Czech is looking to return to the Monte Carlo semifinals for the third time, doing so in 2007 and 2012.