Toronto Masters: Impressive Monfils outlasts Eubanks, sets up Tsitsipas clash
The Frenchman turned back the clock to beat Christopher Eubanks 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-1 on Monday night
Frenchman Gael Monfils won against American Christopher Eubanks 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-1 to advance to the second round of the Toronto Masters at the Aviva Centre on Monday night.
Monfils did well to bounce back from several missed opportunities in the second set, where the 36-year-old served for the match at 5-3, and had two match points at 5-4, 15-40 as well.
While losing a tight second set was a tough pill to swallow, the Frenchman came back strong to win the third for the loss of only one game, with Eubanks unable to keep up.
Surprisingly, Monfils out-served his 6’7″ opponent, winning 82% of first serve points and striking 14 aces across the three sets. Next up, the former world No 6 will face No 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Toronto Masters, other first-round results (Aviva Centre, hard, USD 6,600,000):
- Taro Daniel (Q) beat Adrian Mannarino: 7-6 (5), 6-4
- Thanasi Kokkinakis (Q) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 7-5, 6-4
- Hubert Hurkacz (15) beat Alexander Bublik: 6-3, 7-6 (2)
- Matteo Berrettini beat Gregoire Barrere: 6-4, 6-3
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat J.J. Wolf: 6-0, 6-2
- Jiri Lehecka beat Brandon Nakashima: 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (2)
- Lorenzo Musetti (16) beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 6-4, 6-1
- Francisco Cerundolo beat Alexis Galarneau (WC): 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
- Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Max Purcell
- Ben Shelton vs. Bernabe Zapata Miralles
- Gabriel Diallo vs. Daniel Evans
- Alex De Minaur vs. Cameron Norrie
- Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
- Aleksandar Vukic vs. Borna Coric
- Ugo Humbert vs. Nicolas Jarry
- Lorenzo Sonego vs. Andy Murray
- Mackenzie McDonald vs. Aslan Karatsev
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Sebastian Korda
- Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Marcos Giron
- Vasek Pospisil vs. Matteo Arnaldi
- Tommy Paul vs. Diego Schwartzman
- Cristian Garin vs. Miomir Kecmanovic
- Milos Raonic vs. Frances Tiafoe