Gael Monfils slaughters Albert Montanes in the first round – Valencia Open 2011
World No.10 French, Gael Monfils overpowered Spanish World No.56, Albert Montanes, in the first round of Valencia Open 2011 in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-1. The match was contested in Valencia, Spain and lasted for just
over an hour.
Monfils had lost just two of his last nine matches whilst his opponent had faced four defeats and provided the superior rank, it was clear that French was at advantage. The previous record between the two players was surprising
as Spanish had won both the matches and lead 2-0 with the head-to-head tally.
The Frenchman kicked-off the proceedings with a victory on his serve and both players met blow to blow and pushed to score to 4-3. The first breakthrough came in the eighth game when French broke his opponent’s serve. The crowd
was struck with anguish and pin drop silence was experienced at the arena.
Monfils held on to his serve in the next game and outplayed the Spanish with a commanding triumph. He bagged 35 points in total and registered an impressive overall points winning percentage 56%. It required a massive improvement
in the game play of the Spanish to brighten his chances of enforcing the third set because Monfils was ruling him in all departments of the game.
25-year-old, Monfils, started the second set where he left and broke his rival’s serve upfront and took the lead of two games. The next two games were held by their each player on their respective serve and score moved to 3-1 in
favour of Monfils.
From there on it was all about French power play and domination at the court. He slaughtered his competitor completely with his delicate placement and accuracy. He was completely in control and stunned everyone out there. Four
fierce aces and two more successive breaks were the gist of his outrageous display.
Montanes could just only win 13 points and completely looked rusty and out of touch. This loss made it his third loss in the last four encounters. Crowd was left crestfallen as their local boy was thumped at his home ground by
a visitor.
Third seed registered 85% first serve success rate and coupled it with marvellous winners that helped him register a second serves return success rate of 68%. Total points played in the match were 104 and World No.10, Monfils,
registered a marvellous percentage of 62% and sent a very strong message to his potential opponents.
Monfils moves into the second round where he is drawn to play against the Spanish, Pablo Andujar. It is supposed to be a much closer contest.
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