Gael Monfils shocks Rafael Nadal to reach the title-round – ExxonMobil Qatar Open 2012
Fourth seed Gael Monfils surprised everyone by upsetting the top seed Rafael Nadal in straight sets at the ExxonMobil Qatar Open 2012 on Friday. He registered a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the world number two to set-up an All-French
final at this first ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event taking place on the hard courts in Doha, Qatar.
French number two, Monfils, snapped out from his five match losing streak against Nadal and lowered the trail in the head-to-head series by 2-8. He last dumped the left-handed Spaniard three years ago in this tournament and after
earning this success, the French confidently inched closer to his fifth career title.
Monfils comfortably entered the opening set and swiped in his opening serve to go 1-0 up. Later, he kept remaining serves through perfect shots and capitalised the lone break opportunity to clinch the set with a 6-4 win. The French
manifested 14 out of 19 points on his first serve and never faced any difficulty of breakpoint.
The 25-year-old French faced a bump in the second set as he lost his opening serve and eventually went 2-0 down. However, Monfils stroke out the last five games in a row and sealed the success with a 6-4 score line. He clinched
22 out of 33 points from his higher first serve share and cashed in both break chances.
The Spanish number one expressed his experience by stating, "I don't think the match was bad for me. The second set, I started doing well, doing what I have to do to win a match against him... I didn't play well at the end the
match. I was a little bit unlucky in a few decisive movements. He did better than me and I congratulate him. He's playing really well."
The Paris-born grabbed his maiden 2011 title at the If Stockholm Open in October and made a final berth at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. He opened this season with a straight set victory against the Portuguese, Rui Machado and
trashed fifth seed Viktor Troicki in straight sets to meet Nadal.
Next up for the Monfils is the French number one, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
"It's always really tough to play against Jo because he has a powerful game, and kind of game [where] it's tough to manipulate him from the baseline," Monfils said of the final.
World number six, Tsonga advanced to the title-round after the defending champion, Roger Federer, pulled out of the tournament after sustaining a back injury from his quarter-final match against the eighth seed, Andreas Seppi.
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