Gael Monfils ejects Steve Darcis to reach the fourth round – French Open 2011
Local boy, Gael Monfils, defeated the Belgian qualifier, Steve Darcis in the third round of Roland Garros at Paris, France, on Friday. The world number nine required two hours and two minutes to wrap up a straight sets victory
6-3, 6-4, 7-5, to advance to the final 16 of the Grand Slam tournament.
The contest appeared pretty one-sided right from the beginning, as Monfils bagged the opening set in just 37 minutes of play. The Frenchman got hold of the game early and never allowed Darcis to get on top of him throughout the
contest. He fully capitalised upon the sloppy start of the Belgian and raced though the games to conclude victory, booking a berth in the fourth round of the tournament.
Both men have faced each other once before at Montpellier in 2010, when Monfils defeated the Belgian in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to make it to the quarter-final of the tournament. The French registered his 10th victory
of the current ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season in Paris to lead the overall head-to-head series to 2-0.
Monfils’ agility in the game proved to be the critical success factor in his victory, as he was very responsive to track down the occasional drop shots from Darcis in the contest. The French raided the net 14 times and converted
points on nine occasions to build pressure over the Belgian opponent.
Darcis dropped serve five times to Monfils to bestow an easy victory on him. The Belgian further assisted Monfils by conceding 43 unforced errors in the contest, whereas Monfils committed just 26 mistakes en route to victory.
The French ignited the opener with aggression, stinging an early serve break to push Darcis on his back foot and reeled off 15 out of 19 first serve points to seal the first set at 6-3 to get one up in the contest. Monfils carried
his winning momentum in the following sets as well and broke his opponent’s serve to lead 3-1 in the second set. Darcis registered his first serve break of the match to bring the scores back on even terms but a second break point from the French wound up the
second set at 6-4 in his favour.
The Belgian hung in the third set for a while but Monfils was too good for him to sustain, as he wrapped up his straight sets victory at 7-5 to book a date with the world number seven, David Ferrer of Spain in the fourth round
of the French Open. Ferrer was successful against 31st seed, Sergiy Stakhovsky, whom he defeated in straight sets 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.
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