No, Gaël Monfils was not “exploded” as he anticipated. The Frenchman even performed at his best level on Wednesday to give a good reply to Carlos Alcaraz in the round of 16 of the Masters 1000 in Shanghai. But the Spaniard, world number 2 in great shape and freshly titled in Beijing, was simply too strong for the feat to be possible. He thus brought the Frenchman back to his senses in two high-flying sets (6-4, 7-5) and almost an hour and a half of duel (1h27 precisely). In the quarter-finals, he will face Tommy Paul or Tomas Machac.
He may be 38 years old, but he still has some nice gifts to hand out on tennis courts around the world. Certainly, Gaël Monfils did not manage to tame Carlos Alcaraz again, two months after the Cincinnati sensation. But paradoxically, he undoubtedly played better tennis than in Ohio and again showed that he had the game to compete occasionally with the best in the world. If he lost, it was quite simply because he faced the player of the moment who was untouchable in sequences.
The former French number 1 only gave in twice, each time at the end of sets, at 4-4 and 5-5 respectively, and under monumental pressure. Without breaking, simply beaten by sudden increases in the opponent’s level. The Monf’, however, applied almost perfectly the only viable game plan to hope for anything: showing great aggressiveness at the slightest short or light ball opportunity and this behind a great quality of service (70% of first balls , 10 aces for only a double fault).
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