Marcel Granollers upsets Gael Monfils in quarter-final round – Valencia Open 2011
Marcel Granollers, Spanish World No.34, and the runner-up of Valencia Open last year, mesmerized the higher ranked Frenchman, Gael Monfils, ranked world No.10, beating him down in a hard hitting three set match at Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Valencia, Spain on Friday, 4th of November. Playing on hard indoor circuits, it took the Spaniard 2 hours and 26 minutes to finish off the match, 7-6(12), 3-6, 6-4.
Making their way onto the blue circuit, both players warmed up following with the Spaniard winning the toss and kicking of the match. Granollers, who has was the runner-up at Valencia in 2010, had a strong start as he served out the first game with a triple break point winner, 1-0, and struck again.
Breaking the Frenchman, Spaniard went on to serve out his second game and lead the scoreboard with three consecutive wins, 3-0. Struggling to counter the Spaniard, Monfils finally rolled down his side of the scoreboard, however, could not break back yet, 3-1.
Granollers extended his lead to 4-1, however, Monfils covered up as he served-broke-served next to cut the lead and level up the scores, 4-4. Breaking again the Frenchman gained his momentum bagging another breakpoint win to lead 5-4.
Spaniard, on the other hand, did not give up and broke back right away, second breakpoint win, and levelled up the scores again at 5-5. Battling out hard, both won a game each next, 6-6, and went on to decider the winner in a tiebreak.
Spanish world No.34 held on to his defence as the two levelled up 2-2, 5-5, 8-8, and 10-10 and at 12-12. Granollers finally pulled off a winner and won the tiebreaker 14-12, and the match, 7-6(12) and moved on to play the second set.
Monfils, unlucky in the first set, carried on with the second as he served out the first game, following with Granollers winning the second game, 1-1, to even up the scores. Carrying on, Monfils made a comeback as he broke the lower ranked rival in game six to lead the set, 4-2.
Left with just two more wins, the French world No.10 served out two out of the last three games finishing off the set with a 6-3 win to equal up the match scores, 1-1.
Moving on with the decider set, Granollers ignited the set serving out the set opener, 1-0. Monfils did serve next; however, the Spaniard bulldozed him with a super breakpoint win to lead the set, 2-0. Playing to his level best, the world No.34, pulled off with a third win in a row to lead the set, 3-0.
Monfils won his first game of the set, yet could not break back to cut the lead, 3-1. Winning games next on respective serves, the scores hiked up at 5-3 with Granollers to serve next. Frenchman struck back, breaking the Spaniard and cutting down the lead to 5-4.
Hoping to level up, Monfils was brought down to his knees as Granollers broke and won game ten to win the decider, 6-4, and the match with an amazing winner.
Making his way into the semis stage, Granollers has the potential to make it into the finals again, as he has managed to undo the world no.10 in the quarter-final and plays his semis match against Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, who stands at world No.14.
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