Gael Monfils soars past Lorenzo Musetti in Vienna

Monfils made news a few days ago when it was announced the number one ranked French player was left off the French Davis Cup team. Team Captain Sebastian Grosjean explained that the decision was his but also that Monfils could earn a place if he does well in the next few weeks. Seems like Monfils heard him because today he played a brilliant match to take down Musetti.

Monfils has always been a very good indoor player. The conditions suit him well as his powerful serve gets to do a lot of damage. That was certainly the case in the first set as Monfils converted 95% of his first serves into points. That was why he was able to best Musetti in the tiebreak 7-2. Monfils had a couple of chances earlier in the match but each time the Italian was able to hold.

The 2nd set was another good one as both players played rather well. For both the key was getting the first serve in and again it was Monfils who proved better in that regard. Musetti had a lot of trouble on his 2nd serve and the majority of those points were won by Monfils. The Frenchman was also much more focused in key rallies of the 2nd set which is why he was able to convert the break points he had.

All of that was more than enough to avoid a 2nd set tiebreak winning it 6-4. A good win for Monfils especially if he hopes to secure a spot on the French Davis Cup team. He will face an in-form Diego Schwartzman next.