Home hope Monfils ousted by Cerundolo in thriller at the Paris Masters

Francisco Cerundolo edged out Frenchman Gael Monfils 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 in an evening session thriller to reach the second round of Paris Masters at the Accor Arena in front of a raucous and partisan Parisian crowd.

In the end, Monfils fell agonisingly short after a superb effort, putting the world No 21 under real pressure.

So much so, in fact, that the Frenchman had a match point in the second set, but couldn’t convert at the first time of asking.

“I played my match point poorly”, Monfils said. “He served on my body. I didn’t move enough. I could have done better on many points also. Many points have to be improved in my game, details to be able to push further and make the double break to be safer.”

“But credit to him. He played well. He played excellent match and he’s world No.21. He’s an excellent player.”

After taking the first set, the Frenchman then lost a high-quality second on a tiebreak before taking command of the decider by moving a break up.

Vocal French crowd backing Monfils

With a vocal French crowd behind him, the much-adored Monfils looked on course for another excellent statement win in what has been a wonderful comeback year for him.

It was not to be, however, as the indefatigable Cerundolo would not let the match out of his sight.

The Argentinian played excellently to claw back a break, blocking out the noise of the fierce support for his opponent, before breaking again in the final game of the match to deny the French crowd – and Monfils – a final-set tiebreak.

“Of course disappointed that I lost, but again, I have had a good fight, so I’m happier I have more positives than negatives from this match” Monfils said.

Cerundolo, ranked No 21, will play No 8 seed Casper Ruud next.

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Paris Masters, other first-round results
(Accor Arena, EUR 5.779.335, most recent results first):

• Ugo Humbert beat Marcos Giron (Q): 6-4, 6-3
• Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Mackenzie McDonald beat J.J. Wolf (Q): 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Daniel Altmaier beat Arthur Fils: 6-2, 6-4
• Hubert Hurkacz (11) beat Sebastian Korda: 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3
• Alexander Zverev (10) beat Marton Fucsovics (Q): 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Dusan Lajovic (LL) beat Benjamin Bonzi (WC): 7-5, 6-3
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4
• Dominic Thiem (Q) beat Stan Wawrinka: 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Tommy Paul (12) beat Richard Gasquet (WC): 0-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6)
• Grigor Dimitrov beat Lorenzo Musetti: 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3
• Taylor Fritz (9) beat Sebastian Baez: 6-1, 6-4
• Yoshihito Nishioka (Q) beat Jordan Thompson (LL): 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-2
• Botic van de Zandschulp (Q) beat Adrian Mannarino: 6-4, 7-5
• Laslo Djere beat Luca Van Assche (WC): 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4
• Karen Khachanov (16) beat Max Purcell: 6-4, 6-4
• Roman Safiullin (Q) beat Alexandre Muller (WC): 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Alex De Minaur (13) beat Andy Murray: 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5
• Alexander Bublik beat Frances Tiafoe (14): 6-3, 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Christopher Eubanks: 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4
• Nicolas Jarry beat Alexei Popyrin: 7-5, 7-6 (6)
• Roberto Bautista Agut beat Jiri Lehecka: 6-4, 6-2
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Ben Shelton (15): 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-3