ATP Roundup: Monfils Wins Biggest Title Of Career At Citi Open

Frenchman Gael Monfils captured the biggest title of his career on Sunday afternoon, battling back from a set down to beat Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4 to win the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

“It’s a real pleasure for me,” said Monfils. “When I first came, I saw big names like Arthur Ashe and Yannick Noah and I said, ‘I want to have my name next to them’. They have been big inspirations for me. Every time I come here, the crowd has been really great to me and amazing.”

Monfils certainly lit up the DC crowd on Sunday. He fell behind a set and saw Karlovic have a chance to serve for the match at 5-4 in the second, but the Frenchman dug deep. He notched his first break point of the match, the first time Karlovic had been broken in 53 games, to even things at 5-5, and would go on to take the second set in a tiebreaker to force a decider.

In the third set, Monfils broke Karlovic one more time to open up a 2-1 advantage, and didn’t relinquish anything on serve, winning 88 percent of his first service points, to complete the comeback and claim the title.

“I was serving better in the first two sets,” Karlovic said. “I don’t know why, but my serve stopped [when serving for the match]. It happens I guess. I’m not used to that. I was going to win and I lost my serve. [But] that is tennis.”

With the win, Monfils moves up three spots in the ranking to 14^th in the world.

In Gstaad, Swizterland, Spain’s Feliciano Lopez knocked off Robin Haase 6-4, 7-5 to win the J. Safara Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad title, 10 years after he finished up runner-up to Richard Gasquet in the final.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I’ve been waiting 10 years to win this title,” said Lopez. “It’s been a long wait since 2006, but it’s been worth it. This is a very special tournament, with a lot of tradition, where a lot of Spaniards have won in the past. It’s a unique place to play.”

Italy’s Fabio Fognini won his fourth career title, downing Andrej Martin 6-4, 6-1 to win the Konzum Croatia Open Umag crown.

“I have to be happy,” said Fognini afterwards. “A title is always a title. It was a great week of tennis.”