Gael Monfils defeats Ivan Dodig; cruises into quarters of the Men’s Singles – Gerry Weber Open 2011
Third seeded French Gael Monfils eased past Croat Ivan Dodig in straight sets to advance into the quarter-finals of the Gerry Weber Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event. He registered a 6-2, 6-3 victory over the 26-year-old
Croat at Halle, Germany on Thursday.
The seed took fifty-two minutes to crush past Dodig, who won his first title earlier this season at Zagreb, in straight sets at Gerry Weber Stadion. Monfils displayed extra-ordinary skills in their first meeting and after earning
this victory, he now the leads the head-to-head 1-0 against Dodig.
24-year-old Frenchman thundered into the opening set and broke Dodig’s serve twice to take a 4-1 lead. Despite losing his serve in the sixth game, he maintained his consistency level in the set and won the proceeding two games
to seal the opener with a 6-2 score line.
Monfils carried his victory ways in the final set and kept his entire serves through exquisite forehands from his box of tricks. He found the coveted break in the third game and later broke the Croat’s serve again to clinch the
set with a 6-3 win.
The Frenchman, who is making his debut in this grass court tournament, clobbered an equal first serve share of 63 percent and registered a spectacular 84 percent win on it. Furthermore, Monfils saved one out of two breakpoints
conceded and converted all five breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to help clinch the match easily. He also netted 56 points as compared to Dodig’s 36 and completely outshined the Croat in every department of tennis.
"I'm feeling good, moving good," happy Monfils said after the match. "Now I take time to move on grass. Yesterday and today was good, so I’m quite happy with my game. I think I’m aggressive, I’m moving good. I think I had a good
debut on grass. I have to work a bit more on my serve, because I can still serve faster and maybe stronger for a longer period. I think my game is good, but I still have a lot of stuff to improve to become very, very good."
Up next for the world number eight Monfils, who is coming from a quarter-final defeat from a former world number one Roger Federer, is sixth seeded German, Florian Mayer.
Mayer overpowered Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu in a troublesome three setter match to reach this spot. The German won the opening set in a tie-breaker and despite losing the second set, he converted the only breakpoint opportunity to
his advantage in the decider to clinch the match with a 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4 score line.
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