Gael Monfils reached the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Masters for the first time in his career with relative ease on Monday, blowing past Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-3. The flamboyant Frenchman was focused, pouring on the pressure and breaking often to claim victory in an hour and eight minutes.
Monfils Races Through Opener
The 13th seed came flying out of the blocks, putting pressure on Ramos-Vinolas’ serve in the Spaniard’s first service games. He was forced to save a pair of break points, but Monfils was not to be denied, and converted his third break point for the early break. He quickly held to stretch his lead to 3-0.
Ramos-Vinolas got in the board in the following game, but found himself under pressure from the Frenchman once again at 1-4. This time it took Monfils no time at all to grab the break, converting his first chance for a 5-1 lead and an opportunity to serve out the opening set. The Frenchman made no mistake, clinching the first set in just over half an hour. Monfils was dominant on serve, only losing one point on his first serve and not facing a single break point in the opening frame.
Late Break Gives Monfils Victory
History repeated itself in the second set, only quicker. This time, it was the opening game of the set when Monfils broke Ramos-Vinolas serve, converting his second break point opportunity for the early lead. After consolidating the break with a love service game, the Frenchman raced out to a 0-40 lead on his opponents serve, and converted the second point for the double break lead.
After Monfils had been so dominant on serve all match, he finally cracked in the fourth games. Ramos-Vinolas finally pushed his way to break points, his first of the match, which he converted to reclaimed one of the breaks. The Spaniard easily held in his following service, his first hold since 0-3 in the first set, to close to 2-3 in the second. Monfils would stop the skid in the following game, holding for 4-2.
The set would go with serve until 5-3, when the Frenchman began pouring the pressure on Ramos-Vinolas’ serve once again with the Spaniard serving to stay in the match. Monfils would bring up a match point at 40-AD, which he converted to book his place in the fourth round.
By the Numbers
Monfils was very strong on serve. The Frenchman only faced only break point in the match and won 81% of his first serve points. He was stronger on return, breaking five times out of nine opportunities. His Spanish opponent narrowly won more that 50% of his first serve point, but was limited to a mere nine points on his second serve.
Monfils will contest his first ever round of sixteen match in Indian Wells on Wednesday and will look to reach on his second Masters 1000 quarterfinal on American soil against Frederico Delbonis, who upset Andy Murray earlier on Monday.
