Gael Monfils overwhelms Milos Raonic in semi-final – If Stockholm Open 2011
Gael Monfils, French world No.10 and the top seed for If Stockholm Open 2011, outplayed his semi-final rival Milos Raonic, Canadian world No.29, with a marvellous comeback in set 2 winning 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3 in a long two hour and
9 minutes hard indoor circuit match.
Firing up first, Raonic won the toss and served out the match opener, 0-1, rolling down the scoreboard. Levelling back up, Monfils won a triple game point and switched the serve, 1-1. Winning away games on respective serves, the
two levelled up at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and on 5-5.
Unable to break each other, both won a game each next and tied up in a tiebreaker with the Canadian to serve first. Serving out the first point, Raonic dropped down losing the next 2. Levelling up at 6-6, Raonic served out the
last two points to captivate the first set, 7-6(6), and moved onto set 2.
Continuing with set 2, Monfils opened up rolling down the scoreboard, 1-0, however, the 20-year-old Canadian followed up with a winner to level up the scores, 1-1. Flaring up the set, world No.29, Raonic, broke the Frenchman, game
3, and took out the next to lead the set, 3-1.
Hitting back world No.10 served out game 5, however, was unable to break back at that instant. Winning game 6, 4-2, Raonic maintained his lead and switched. Monfils struck back as he served out game 7, 3-4, broke the world No.29
next, 4-4, and served out again to lead the set, 5-4.
With just one more win away to level up the set score and winning the set, the Frenchman blistered a super forehand winner to break his competitor in game 10 and walk away with the set, 6-4, and onto the decider set.
Monfils continued with the decider, opened up and took out game 1, 1-0. The 20-year-old followed with a winner, level up, 1-1. Serving out a game each, the two equalled up 2-2 before Monfils struck again.
Gaining back his momentum and form after injury, the higher ranked contender served out game 5, 3-2, broke the Canadian in game 6, 4-2, and served out again to lead the set, 5-2. Left with one more win to finish off the semi-final,
world No.10 served out one out of the last two games, 6-3, winning the decider and the match with a super comeback.
Through into the final round of the ATP World Tour 250 event, Monfils will now face the unseeded Fin, Jarkko Nieminen, as they battle out for the final show down on Sunday, 23rd October.
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