Citi Open: Red-hot Monfils races into second round

He may be a wildcard at the Citi Open this year, but the only thing wild about Monfils’ performance on Tuesday night was how well he played to dispatch American qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo.

The 6-3, 6-4 score line saw Monfils dominate the play, striking 20 winners to six unforced errors, and rifling down six aces. Only facing two break points, both of which the world No 323 saved, Monfils managed to conserve some vital energy in the first round encounter, spending a little over an hour on court.

Up next, the 36-year-old plays fellow UTS star and No 6 seed Alexander Bublik, who had the benefit of sitting out the first round with a bye.

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Tennis Majors

Washington ATP500, other first-round results (Rock Creek Park Tennis Center, hard, USD 2.013.940, most recent results first):

• Kevin Anderson vs. Jordan Thompson
• Lloyd Harris vs. Kei Nishikori
• Aleksandar Vukic vs. Brandon Nakashima
• Zachary Svajda vs. Max Purcell
• Taro Daniel vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Radu Albot beat Marcos Giron: 6-3, 5-7, 7-5
• Gregoire Barrere beat Shintaro Mochizuki (Q): 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-3
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Diego Schwartzman: 6-3, 6-3
• Liam Broady beat Corentin Moutet: 7-6, 6-4
• Aslan Karatsev beat Kiranpal Pannu (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-1
• Michael Mmoh beat Bradley Klahn (Q): 6-3, 6-3
• Yosuke Watanuki beat Yibing Wu: 1-4 ret.
• Alexander Shevchenko beat Maxime Cressy: 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Juncheng Shang (Q) beat Emilio Gomez: 6-3, 6-3
• Emil Ruusuvuori beat Constant Lestienne: 6-4, 6-4