Posted by Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, Monday March 11, 2024 at 11:03 pm.
Monfils staged a magnificent battle to oust Cameron Norrie in three sets in the round of 32 of the Masters 1000 at Indian Wells and give himself the right to face the winner of the Phils-Rudd match. On the other hand, Ugo Humbert, slowed by an adductor injury, was beaten by Tommy Paul.
Gael Monfils is 37 years old, but he still has great muscles! The Frenchman drew on his reserve to win his match in the third round of the Masters 1000 at Indian Wells, after 3h13 of play. Against world number 28 Cameron Norrie, the 54th player won 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, which will allow him to return to the top 50 of the ATP rankings for the first time since October 2022. During their two encounters with Britain’s winner on grass in 2017 and on hard in 2019, the Frenchman produced matches as uneven as his serve (12 aces, 12 double faults, 21 break points to save), but only to punch his ticket to the eighth. Was able to finish very strongly. After his exploits against Hubert Hurkaz in the previous round, Gael Monfils struggled to get into his service match. In the first game, he had to save five break points and was broken. On his second service game, he had to defend nine break points, and this time he saved them all. Finally in sync with his opponent, he managed to level at 3–3, but lost his serve again at 5–5 after saving another four break points. However, he managed to break straight away to play out the deciding game, won 7–5 by Britain.
Monfils leads 7-6, 3-0
Building on his momentum, Cameron Norrie broke his first chance in the second set to lead 3-0, 30-30, and Gael Monfils’ chances of victory looked slim. But the Frenchman managed to equalize at 3-3, after which a new tie-break had to be played. And this time, it was the world number 54 who managed it even better (he even allowed himself to win a point by serving himself with a spoon), winning 6-5 on his first set point after a wonderful break. We were already playing for 2h25 and we had to play the third set. This time, the games moved more quickly, and after missing the first break point at 2-1, Monfils didn’t miss the chance at 4-3 to earn the right to serve for the match. At the end of the shutout, he earned the victory, his eighth of the year, which allowed him to climb to a virtual 47th spot. We now have to recover well before going to challenge Casper Rudd or Arthur Phils.
Humbert accepts Paul
On the other hand, the tournament is already over for Hugo Humbert, the French No. 1. Winner of his last six matches but cut short by the pain of addiction, He lost to Tommy Paul, three places behind him (17th against 14): 6-4, 6-4 in 1h28. However, it was Messi who took a 4-2 lead in the first break of the match, but then lost four games in a row and thus the set. In the second, Humbert held for 3-3, then saved two break points, but at 4-4, he finally gave up and Paul didn’t waver while serving for the match. So he will face either Novak Djokovic or Luca Nardi in the next round. As for Humbert, whose place in the top 15 is threatened by Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul, he will be hoping his injury is not too serious and does not compromise his chances at the Masters 1000 in Miami. Also note this Monday at the start of Holger Run’s qualification program to the detriment of Lorenzo Musetti. The Dane, exempt from the first round and the beneficiary of Milos Raonic’s package in the second, won 6-2, 7-6 in 1h37. He saved two break points from the Italian and took his serve for 1-0 and 5-2 in the first set before winning the second 7-5 in the tie-break. Next opponent: Taylor Fritz or Sebastian Baez.
