Gael Monfils defeats Ivo Karlovic in the opening round of the Mutua Madrid Open
World number 10, Gael Monfils of France had a tremendous start to the Mutua Madrid Open as he won his opening round matchup against Croatian, Ivo Karlovic on Monday. Played at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain, the Frenchman
wrapped up the contest in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(6) in one hour and twenty two minutes to advance to the next stage of the $4,500,000 ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event.
The ninth seeded French finally broke the Karlovic’s winning streak against him, as the Croat had won both of their past two meetings. Their most recent encounter at Cincinnati Masters two years ago resulted in a thrilling three-set
victory for the Croat. However, this time around Monfils turned the tables on the Croat. It was the ninth victory for the French in the running year and a much needed one as well.
24-year-old Monfils put up a brilliant performance to eject out the Croat from the competition. He served with 82 percent accuracy and his serve wasn’t broken in the entire contest. The French was absolutely phenomenal with bagging
points on regularity and made the most of his opportunities in the game. Monfils secured 40 out of 50 first serve points to get the competitive advantage over the Croatian competitor, who also hung in the game till the end. Karlovic dropped the opener quickly
but regrouped very well to stretch the final set into a tie breaker round, where he lost the match.
Ninth seeded Monfils quickly got his hold over the contest with his precise first serve and break points. The French registered two serve breaks in the opening set, without dropping his serve and reeled off 14 of 19first serve
points to edge past his opponent. He faced no serve breaks from his opponent in the opening set but cashed in most of his opportunities to exploit the Croat.
One break point from Monfils proved lethal for Karlovic, who eventually submitted the first set to his opponent at 3-6. The Croat put up an incredible show of professional tennis in the following set, pushing Monfils to his limits.
Karlovic faced a crucial break point at 3-5 but he held his nerve to deny his opponent and drag the second set into the tie breaker round. Monfils proved to be the more skilled man in the intense pressure situation and closed out the contest at 7-6(6) to step
into the second round at the Mutua Madrid Open.
Juan Monaco of Argentina will be Monfils’ next opponent. The Argentine stood victorious against Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in a three-set matchup, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the opening round of the tournament.
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