[13] Gael Monfils (FRA) vs. [119] Jannik Sinner (ITA)
If you have never seen the eighteen-year-old play, check him out. Apparently, Monfils was also not aware of the fire power the young Italian could produce and several times he was caught off guard.
The Italian Came Out On Fire
Given a wildcard, the Italian seems fully intent on making the best of this opportunity. This was his second match in the tournament, and he was up against the top seed in the draw. By rights, he should have been nervous and in awe of his opponent; yet, he showed no signs of nerves. In contrast, it was the veteran Monfils who was nervous, and he was immediately broken in his first service game. The first set just went downhill from there for the French player who was broken a second time as he served to stay in the set.
Monfils Struggled To Find His Game
Surely, the nerves would get to the younger player and the veteran would find his game and take charge of the match. It seemed that way when Monfils got his first opportunity to break the young Italian in his first service game of the second set. However, Sinner proved that he was ready for the challenge and he held his nerve and served his way out of trouble. There were none of the usual antics from Monfils, who seemed somewhat subdued the entire match. Was he distracted by the fact that his girlfriend, Elina Svitolina, had lost her match earlier in the day? Something was up because there was an unusually high number of inexplicable errors from the Frenchman and on one changeover he seemed to be crying into his towel.
Sinner Stuns Monfils
Sinner ran down everything and simply outplayed his older opponent. Despite serving less that fifty percent, the young Italian protected his serve better than Monfils and walked away with the straight sets victory without losing his serve. Monfils was left in a daze as the Italian took the 6-3, 6-2 victory.
SOURCE OF IMAGES: serveandrally originals
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