MAVERICK MONFILS ENTHRALS DUBAI
In a battle of the big-hitters, Gael Monfils overcame third seed Marin Cilic to reach the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday. Having won his eighth career title recently in Rotterdam, the 32-year-old Monfils began his Dubai campaign with a 6-3 4-6 6-0 victory — his fourth straight win over the 2014 US Open champion from Croatia.
With that ability to turn defence into attack, the maverick Frenchman destroyed Cilic — who was playing his first match since the Australian Open — in the third set to set up a second round clash with veteran Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist, won a battle of wild cards against Egypt’s Mohamed Safwat 4-6 6-3 6-4 on Court One.
Earlier, Kei Nishikori couldn’t have dreamed of a better Dubai debut as the Japanese superstar put Frenchman Benoit Paire to the sword with a 6-4 6-3 win in his first round match.
A single break of serve gave the first set to Nishikori who broke Paire twice in the second set before clinching the victory on his second match point. Nishikori adapted quickly to the conditions as his relentless accuracy from the back of the court gave the world number 65 no chance to fight back into the match.
“It’s never easy playing Benoit. He has got a great serve, great backhand. But after I won the long game in the first, I think 2-1, I was able to get the game. I was more confident. But if he had broken back, anything could have happened,” said Nishikori who recorded his sixth win in nine matches against the 29-year-old Frenchman.
Unlike the blustery Tuesday, the conditions were much better on Wednesday.
“It was so windy yesterday, especially in the night match. It was better today,” he said.
“It was a good match. Never easy with this wind. I think played good enough tennis today,” said Nishikori who made the Rotterdam semifinals recently.
The 2014 US Open runner-up will now take on Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz who beat French qualifier Corentin Moutet 6-3 7-5 on Court Three.
Earlier, qualifier Richard Berankis caused the biggest upset of the tournament as the world number 113 from Lithuania stunned eight seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-3 6-3 in the first round. Medvedev, the world number 15 who reached the Rotterdam semifinals last week, was struggling right from the start on Tuesday on the Centre Court.
It was an uphill battle for the 23-year-old Medvedev, having lost his serve in the opening game of the first set. Berankis, on the other hand, handled the pressure well on his own serve and got the second break of serve in the ninth game to go one set up. Medvedev was broken again in the fourth and sixth games of the second set as Berankis completed an easy straight-set win to set up a second round clash with American Denis Kudla.
The 26-year-old Kudla — world number 68 — won a tough three setter against Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-2 5-7 7-5 on Court Three.