Montpellier Open: Cobolli knocks out home hope Monfils to make second round

Flavio Cobolli moved into the second round of the Montpellier Open by knocking out Frenchman Gael Monfils, the No 8 seed, 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-0 at the Sud de France Arena.

A native of southern France, Monfils will have been desperately disappointed to go out to the world No 76 in front of his home crowd – especially after having taken the first set on such a tight margin.

Monfils edged the opener by winning the tiebreak 10-8 in a very close opening stanza.

However, the Frenchman’s form and physical state deteriorated over the course of the final two sets, with Cobolli striking the ball with increasing confidence, power and precision.

After losing the second set 6-3, the remainder of Monfils’ belief seemed to have been broken as the Italian upped the intensity to race through the third set 6-0 despite vocal local support for the Frenchman.

Monfils spoke in recent days of his lack of match confidence following a period where wins have been hard to come by. It appeared that lack of confidence was a big factor in the last two sets of this match, as an opportunity to put some positive results together slips away.

Cobolli, ranked No 76, will play another Frenchman Constant Lestienne in the next round.

You might also like this

“If my daughter can travel with me, I’ll play as long as I want” – Monfils hopes to play till he’s 40

tennis majors

“I’m a perfectionist – even my wife thought that was funny” – Hard worker Monfils on people’s wrong impressions

tennis majors

“I am tired of these incessant and futile controversies” – Monfils speaks out on Auger-Aliassime conflict at Laver Cup

tennis majors

“A few days of rest and it will be fine” – Monfils optimistic about ankle injury

tennis majors

Montpellier ATP 250, other first-round results (Sud de France Arena, hard, EUR 579.320, most recent results first):

• Constant Lestienne beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Alexander Shevchenko (6) beat Dalibor Svrcina (Q): 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
• Pablo Llamas Ruiz (Q) beat Richard Gasquet: 7-6 (6), 7-5
• Arthur Cazaux beat Maximilian Marterer: 6-1, 6-3
• Denis Shapovalov beat Hugo Gaston: 6-1, 6-3
• Harold Mayot (WC) beat Lucas Pouille (WC): 6-4, 7-5
• Gregoire Barrere beat Ugo Blanchet (Q): 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-2
• Alexandre Muller (7) beat Antoine Escoffier (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Pedro Martinez beat Jaume Munar: 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Benoit Paire beat Andy Murray (5): 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Michael Mmoh beat Benjamin Bonzi: 6-3, 7-5