2010 Davis Cup Finals, Gael Monfils topples Janko Tipsarevic in the opener
The French tennis player Gael Monfils provided his country with the perfect start to the 2010 Davis Cup final, triumphing in his first match in three set versus Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia on Friday. The score line was 6-1 7-6(4) 6-0.
"Honestly, I do not know whether I should play and what to expect, it is up to team captain Bogdan Obradovic. I will also speak to Serbia's number three player Viktor Troicki and see how he feels after Saturday's doubles, hopefully we will head into that
1-1”, said Janko in a press conference after his French opponent thrashed him out in the Davis Cup Final opener on Friday.
Monfils, who is the highest ranked player from France, came out at his very best to topple his opponent on the evening of Friday’s clash.
Janko, despite the advantage of the home crowd looked extremely nervous in his first service game committing two quick-fire double faults and giving his opponent an opening break on a silver platter.
The 24-year old Monfils, who was looking for his first ever singles win away from home in the Davis Cup ties, pounced on Janko’s early nerves, blasting an ace past Janko with his very first serve and earning a comfortable hold to take a lead of 2-0.
Throughout the opening set, Monfils was quick enough in earning the service break and the lead. Janko, on the other hand also tried to bounce back from being a set down and held serves one after the other.
The middle set was forced into a tie breaker at 6-6 with a perfect hold of service games. However, then the French player also came into action and did well to give away just four points in the tiebreak to clinch the second set.
The professional tennis ace from Serbia, Janko, lost control in the final set as the momentum shifted totally towards the Frenchman. Currently ranked number twelve in the South African Airways ATP list, Monfils, managed to break his opponent on all occasions
and also consolidated with a great measure of ease. With just a single game reaching the stage of deuces and advantages, Gael nailed the decisive set 6-0.
Gael served and followed it up with a high level of confidence as he took eighty percent of the opening serve points and a commendable eighty-two percent of the second serve points. As a result, Monfils emerged victorious in the end. The battle concluded
in a time period of two hours and five minutes.
"I had never before started the match with a pair of double faults, I was nervous and it is not surprising the crowd never really got going because I gave them very little to cheer about. Stage fright is not the main reason for my bad performance though,
quite simply I lost to a better player today and all credit to Monfils. Whatever happens, I am fit and ready to play on Sunday if the tie goes down the wire and my confidence is not shattered, but we have to talk it over and see what is best for the team”,
added Janko.
Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic will pair up for Serbia to meet Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement in today’s doubles whereas Novak Djokovic, the highest ranked Serbian will take on Monfils in Sunday's opening reverse singles at the Belgrade Arena in Serbia.
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