Pospisil advances, Monfils up next
Canadian advances after Chardy forced to retire; Raonic in action Wednesday
When unseeded Joao Sousa tried to sneak a winner past Gael Monfils during their first-round match at the Rogers Cup, the French standout stabbed at it with his backhand, then turned a quick pirouette in time to see his shot clear the net.
Turns out both the backhand and the dance move were superfluous, as Sousa’s shot landed beyond the baseline, the unforced error giving Monfils the game.
Still, fans in the half-full stands at the Aviva Centre applauded Monfils’ panache, and the 29-year-old paused to enjoy the moment. After a rocky mid-season he had finally found his rhythm, and right then he was in control and entertaining en route to a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
He advances to the second round of this crucial pre-Olympic tournament.
Not that he’s thinking that far ahead.
“I (don’t) even ask myself this question,” said Monfils, the tournament’s 10th seed, minutes after eliminating Sousa.
“I think I put in good work with my team. What I try to do is keep working with them, and the result I see later.”
In May, Monfils suffered a firstround loss at a tournament in Italy, then missed the French Open when a virus kept him bedridden. He regained his health and entered Wimbledon as the 17th seed but lost his first-round match to countryman Jeremy Chardy.
But last weekend, Monfils rebounded to capture the Citi Open championship in Washington D.C., outlasting Ivo Karlovic and battling back from a match point to secure the title.
Tuesday afternoon at the Rogers Cup required no such heroics.
Monfils, who turns 30 in September, claimed the first set by winning the first four games before prevailing 6-3. In the second, he broke Sousa’s serve to pull ahead 3-2 and never trailed afterward.
Along the way he displayed a booming serve that reached 213 km/h and baited Sousa, ranked 36th worldwide but unseeded at the Rogers Cup, into numerous unforced errors.
The victory puts Monfils, ranked 14th worldwide, into the second round, where he’ll face Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, who won an injuryshortened match over Chardy Tuesday night.
Three years ago, Pospisil reached the Rogers Cup semifinals, where he lost to Milos Raonic in three sets. That run energized Pospisil’s career, and over the following year he would reach No. 25 in the world rankings and become a surprise quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in 2014.
But since then, his singles career has stalled. Next month he’ll join Daniel Nestor to represent Canada in doubles at the Rio Olympics, but heading into this week he had won just five of 23 singles in 2016.
Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu advanced to the second round afternoon with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Alexander Zverev to set up a date with Canadian star Raonic.