Gael Monfils Wins 1st Match Against Dominic Thiem At 7th Attempt

Gael Monfils and Dominic Thiem had solid starts to the game, with Monfils holding serve with just one point dropped and Thiem holding his serve to love. In the sixth game of the first set, Monfils raced to three breakpoints on Thiem’s serve. Thiem tried to kick off a fight back with a winner to steal a point back, but Gael Monfils stole the break of his serve with the next opportunity.

Gael Monfils then held serve superbly in the following game to consolidate his break of Dominic Thiem’s serve. Thiem showed the solid serving he had started the set with, holding his serve in just over two minutes, dropping a single point. That wasn’t enough as Monfils served out the set in the ninth game.

Gael Monfils Dominates A 2nd Set Tiebreak

The second set started like the first. Dominic Thiem started with two aces and two winners, the only blight was an unforced error that gifted Gael Monfils a lone point in the game. Monfils also proved solid, hitting two aces and three winners on his serve.

Both players proved solid on serve till the fifth game where Thiem wobbled. In a nine-minute game, Gael Monfils raced to three breakpoints on Dominic Thiem’s serve again, like in the first set. This time, Thiem stepped up his game, producing a sleek ace to secure a deuce. Thiem eventually held serve with a solid winner.

Both players continued their solid holds of their serves until they served the second set into a tiebreak. Gael Monfils stayed solid in the tiebreak, stealing the first point off Thiem’s serve and then racing to a 4-0 lead.

Thiem’s Mallorca hopes frittered away the more as Monfils quickly took a five-matchpoint lead at 6-1. Although Thiem succeeded in saving two of those match points, Monfils secured the third and won the tie.

Other Matches Of The Mallorca Championships

In other matches of the Mallorca Championships , Luciano Darderi defeated Pedro Martinez in their first-ever meeting. The Italian hit 35 winners past Martinez, 10 winners more than the Spaniard managed. Fabio Fognini also defeated Gijs Brouwer in straight sets with two tiebreaks.

Rinky Hijikata defeated Luca Nardi in three sets after surviving a second-set resurgence from the Italian. Sebastian Ofner came from a set down to defeat Jaume Munar. He has moved one place from 54th on the live ATP rankings as a result. Alexander Shevchenko also defeated Constant Lestienne in straight sets in the first-ever meeting between the pair. The victory has taken Shevchenko up by two places from No. 58 on the live ATP rankings.

Alex Michelsen has defeated the 3rd seed, Adrian Mannarino in their second-round clash in straight sets. Gael Monfils is set to face Roberto Carballés Baena later in the day.