GAEL MONFILS CRUISES PAST FABIO FOGNINI AT ROGERS CUP

Written by: Staff on 11th August 2015

GAEL MONFILS CRUISES PAST FABIO FOGNINI AT ROGERS CUP |

“Gael #Monfils was his awesome self in #Montreal tonight. #couperogers” – Photo by @couperogers via Instagram.

Gael Monfils has coasted through to the second round of the Rogers Cup with a convincing 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Italian Fabio Fognini. The Frenchman, seeded No. 15, needed just one hour and three minutes to post the straight-sets result, his first hard-court victory over the 28-year-old.

Both players landed less than 55 per cent of their first serves but it was Monfils who made the most of his break-point opportunities, converting four of five, while saving all six he faced. “I played a solid match. It was important to me,” Monfils said. “I wanted to start off this tournament well. It was not a great match, but I didn’t play bad. I was solid, I didn’t give away any points.”

Fognini was coming off his second final of the season last Sunday, when he lost to Rafael Nadal on the clay in Hamburg. But the Italian was unable to transfer his solid form to the faster hard courts in the Quebec metropolis on Monday.

Fabio Fognini at the Rogers Cup. Photo via Instagram.

The pair came into the contest having split six previous matches 3-3 and it was World No. 27 Fognini who had won their only prior hard-court showdown at Indian Wells last year. After taking time off following Wimbledon due to injury, Monfils made a later transition to hard-court practice than initially planned and said he still needed time to find his range, having only played Umag since the grass-court season.

“I started playing on hard courts later, at home,” he said. “I played with Stan [Wawrinka], and Jo [Wilfried Tsonga] was there too, so I played a few days with them at home. It’s not easy to be back at your best level immediately, but I believe I’m not far now. I can be part of the Top 10 or Top 12 very soon.”

He will next meet Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, after he secured a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Canadian wild card Philip Bester. Bester, playing his first Rogers Cup since 2007, was looking to make it past the first round for the first time in four attempts. Muller, though, would not drop serve throughout, fired 13 aces to register the win in one hour and eight minutes.

“I’m looking forward to that match because I’ve known him for a long time,” Monfils said. “I know he’s a good player. He plays well. He’s very aggressive, has a good serve. I’ll try to serve better than today … I’ll try to have short games on my serve to be able to put pressure on him on his serve.”

The final match between defending champion Tsonga and Croatian Borna Coric was suspended due to rain with Tsonga leading 2-1 on serve in the opening set.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/montreal-2015-monday-monfils-tsonga )

Topics: Fabio Fognini, Gael Monfils, Rogers Cup tennis, Sports

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10sBalls_com says:

August 11, 2015 at 11:08 am

-@Gael_Monfils CRUISES PAST @fabiofogna AT @rogerscup – http://t.co/SHc14YeNMb #tennis #Monfils #Fognini #RogersCup