Monfils saves nine set points to move past Van de Zandschulp and into second round at Doha

French wildcard Gael Monfils moved into the second round of the Qatar Open by winning against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1, 7-6 (9) at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on Tuesday evening.

Monfils, ranked No 68, will play Chinese Zhizhen Zhang next.

Monfils is making his first appearance in Doha since 2018. The Frenchman is a former champion at Doha, having won the title that season. He improves to 24-8 lifetime at the event, and 3-4 on the season with his win.

Monfils came through a wild sequence to secure his win in straight sets. First, he saved three set points in a two-game span to rally from 5-3 down to 5-5. Next, he saved three more set points from 0-40 down to hold for 6-6 and force a second-set tiebreak.

Finally, after squandering three match points and a 6-3 lead in the breaker, Van de Zandschulp earned three more set points (bringing his total of set points to nine) at 7-6, 8-7 and 9-8, but lost the final three points and the match.

Doha ATP 250, other first-round results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 1.395.875, most recent results first):

• Andy Murray beat Alexandre Muller (Q): 6-1, 7-6 (5)
• Hugo Grenier (Q) beat Maximilian Marterer (LL): 7-6 (5), 7-5
• Richard Gasquet (WC) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-4, 6-4
• Emil Ruusuvuori beat Giulio Zeppieri (Q): 7-6 (2), 7-5
• Christopher O’Connell beat Jan-Lennard Struff (6): 6-4, 6-4
• Jakub Mensik beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (5): 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Alexei Popyrin beat Abdullah Shelbayh (WC): 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Fabian Marozsan beat Vit Kopriva (Q): 7-5, 7-6 (6)
• Marton Fucsovics beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-1, 6-3
• Zhizhen Zhang beat Lorenzo Musetti (7): 6-2, 6-0
• Pavel Kotov beat Lorenzo Sonego: 6-2, 7-5

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