A few games and then leaves. Gaël Monfils (40th in the world) was sharply eliminated in the first round of the Masters 1000 in Madrid by Luciano Darderi (60th) 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and seventeen minutes on Wednesday.
In difficulty serving, Monfils was no match for the young 22-year-old Italian, who scored his first victory in Masters 1000.
Monfils wants to “savour” Roland-Garros
“He had a good match, very solid, very hard to overcome, he served very well. For me, it was a little harder, I made a lot of mistakes, I had difficulty finding a good rhythm on serve to pass more first (balls)” declared the Frenchman in the mixed zone.
Monfils added that he was going to take advantage of this early elimination to “rework physically” and “try to arrive in good conditions for Rome (May 8-19)” before Lyon (May 18-25) and Roland-Garros (May 20). May-June 9). “I don’t have a thousand left of the Roland-Garros, so the objective is really to be able to savor,” assured the 37-year-old.
A bad day for Rinderknech and Moutet
This first round was fatal to two other French people, Arthur Rinderknech (77th) and Corentin Moutet (88th). The first first gave way to the Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko (59th), winner 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, who will meet Carlos Alcaraz in the next round for the entry into the running of the double title holder.
In the evening, in a completely crazy match between left-handers which lasted almost four hours, Moutet gave up against the young Chinese Shang Juncheng (111th), 19 years old, beneficiary of an invitation, winner 6-7 (9-11) , 6-2, 7-6 (12/10). Moutet won the first set of exceptional length (one hour and forty minutes), after obtaining four set points at 5-3, three others at 5-4, and an eighth in the deciding game. After having to save opposing opportunities himself, he ended up finishing this round on the ninth occasion, by hitting a high backhand volley.
It passes for Luca Van Assche
After equalizing, Shang escaped 3-0 in the final set. And despite a strong reaction from Moutet, who had escaped from qualifying to reach the final draw, he ended up winning in the deciding game, on his sixth match point.
The only Habs competing on Monday to have survived this round was the lowest ranked and the youngest of them, Luca Van Assche (19 years old, 99th): winner in three rounds of the Belgian Zizou Bergs (103rd) 6- 4, 6-7 (0/7), 6-1, he will meet the Argentinian Sebastian Baez (19th in the world) in the next round.