Gael Monfils dumps Marinko Matosevic on the second day – Australian Open 2012
France’s number two tennis player, Gael Monfils, breezed past the local wildcard entrant, Marinko Matosevic, in the opening round clash of the Australian Open on Tuesday. He trashed his opponent in straight sets, 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-3, taking just two hours and
22 minutes of play to book a berth in the second round of the mega event.
Being played at the Margaret Court Arena at the Melbourne Park, Australia, the contest witnessed some enthralling game play earlier on but it turned out to be a fairly one-sided competition in the later parts. Matosevic had a brilliant opening set and gave
some real tough time to the world number 15, Monfils. A close encounter in the first set was followed by a brutal onslaught from the 14th seed Frenchman, who reeled off the next two set with commanding ease to register victory.
Despite of a below par serve precision of just 54 per cent in the match, Monfils banged in 12 thudding aces and secured 43 out of 60 first serve points to drive his opponent out of the competition. He converted five out of his 11 break opportunities in the
match and successfully defended eight out of 10 break points he faced in the match to claim a much needed victory.
Action started right away in the opening game of the match, with Monfils breaking the Aussie’s serve twice in a row to race away to 4-0 lead. An amazing comeback from the local contest was cheered by his home crowd, as he stung two consecutive serve breaks
in the sixth and eighth games to bring the scores back on even terms at 4-4.
A regular game took the scores to 6-6, bringing a tie-breaker round into play. The decider also went neck-to-neck, with both contestants straining hard to get the early advantage in the matchup. Monfils nailed a crucial mini-break at 5-5 and then sealed
off the first set with a fore hand winner down the line. He didn’t drop his serve in the next two sets and cruised to victory in style, pocketing the last two sets with identical scores of 6-3, 6-3, to reach the second round of the Australian Open.
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