Open Sud de France: Gaël Monfils eliminated upon entering the tournament by the Italian Flavio Cobolli

Gaël Monfils éliminé dès son entrée en jeu dans le tournoi par l'Italien Flavio Cobolli. Icon Sport – Alexandre Dimou

Opposed to the young Italian Flavio Cobolli, this Wednesday, January 31, in the round of 16 of the Open, the Frenchman Gaël Monfils lost as soon as he entered the tournament (6-7 [8- 10], 6-3, 6-0).

The three-time winner of the event (2010, 2014, 2020) Gaël Monfils (76th in the world), lacking confidence, missed his entry into the tournament by losing against the Italian Flavio Cobolli (70th) in three rounds. Coming to Montpellier, in the hope of winning a match, Monfils only lasted one round against his opponent.

A contested first set, which was not really disrupted by the interruption of around ten minutes to help a spectator. Gaël Monfils and Flavio Cobolli went blow for blow for almost 90 minutes at the end of which the Frenchman made his experience speak for itself in the tie-break. Trailing 3-0, Monfils turned the tide before taking advantage of two big mistakes from his young opponent (they are 16 years apart…) to finally snatch the first set (7-6 [ 10-8]).

Cobolli finds color

The Italian found some color in the second set. He won the faceoff against Monfils (3-1) who nevertheless managed to break the break before losing the advantage again. Cobolli more regular now in the ascendancy to finally equalize at one set all (6-3).

Monfils was unable to get things back on track in the third round. Broken from the start by his opponent, he left the Florentin in control of the game. Unsurprisingly, he continued his momentum to finish without giving the tricolor the slightest chance and win the third round outright (6-0) in just thirty minutes.

He will meet another Frenchman on his route, Constant Lestienne (N.106). A little earlier in the afternoon, the latter disposed of the Spaniard Zapata Miralles (N.80) in three sets as well (4-6, 6-4, 6- 2).