Novak Djokovic surpasses Gael Monfils in quarterfinal – Western & Southern Open 2011
Ending the Western and Southern Open run for French World No.8, Gael Monfils; Novak Djokovic, Serbian, cleared his way to the semi-final of the ATP Masters 1000 event winning 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Playing at the magnificent Lindner Family Tennis Center, the two sensitized a perfect display of perfection, battling it out for 2 hours and 34 minutes before the Serbian World No.1 stood at rest, victorious.
Although the two have a historic rivalry, playing 9 times against each other, however, there is only one match that ended in two sets. Other than that, all the fixtures the two played ended in no less than 3 sets. Aged 24, the two have came up head on in almost all big events including US Open and French Open.
Considering the fact that the world No.1, Djokovic, is an extremely sound player, he still had to put up a lot more while playing against the Frenchman. The quarter-final was the 1 of very few matches played lately by the Serbian in which he dropped a set. Other than these, his stats are more of straight set wins.
Monfils, on the other hand, was spoken off by the former legend Pete Sampras after playing an exhibition match in San Jose;
‘He’s the real deal. I’ve played a lot of good movers in my day, but not only does he move well, but he slides, which helps really cover the court that much better. He has the talent, it’s just a matter of putting it all together, but he has the game.”
The match started off with Djokovic serving first combined with a huge applauds by the fans as the two entered the arena. Surprisingly after ages, the Serbian lost a breakpoint as he opened the set, 0-1. Monfils took the advantage and gained the maximum out of that winning the next game to lead 2-0.
The Serbian opened up his scoring as he took out game 3 to cut the lead 2-1, however, the 24-year-old still had some shockers coming. Breaking the world number one in game 9, Monfils blistered the first set winning 6-3 and moved on with a 1-0 lead.
Serving first in set 2, the Frenchman won the first set and switched the serve. However, the Serbian levelled it out in the next, 1-1. The first breakpoint of the second set came up in game 5 as Djokovic finally won his first and took the lead; however, the Frenchman equalled it up breaking the Serbian in game 6.
Levelling it up on 4-4, the Frenchman lost his consistency in game 9 and lost a breakpoint and finally lost the set as Djokovic finished off the set in game 10 winning 6-4.
The decider set started off as the magnificent world No.1 broke the Frenchman in the first game and extending his lead further on in the second. Repeating the 1stset scores, the Serbian maintained his lead until he finalized the set and the match breaking the Frenchman for the last time in game 9 and taking away the set 6-3 and the match 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The world No.1 proved his worthy ranking winning a superb match and making it to the semi-final of the Cincinnati Open to play Tomas Berdych, Czech, to stand the final round.
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