France’s Gael Monfils, at age 37, pulled off a major upset Friday by defeating World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz in a second-round match continued from Thursday at the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio.
The unseeded Monfils knocked off second-seeded Alcaraz 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 after rain suspended the match Thursday night with the Spaniard ahead 6-4, 6-6 (1-3).
“I felt like it was the worst match that I ever played in my career,” Alcaraz said. “(I) couldn’t play. Honestly, I’ve been practicing really well here in this tournament. The previous days, I was feeling great, hitting the ball clear, moving well. I don’t know what happened.
“I don’t know how I felt like this, but I couldn’t control myself. I couldn’t be better. So this match, it was impossible to win.”
Monfils, ranked No. 46 in the world, defeated a top-three opponent for the ninth time in his career — the most recent a victory over then-No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in March 2022 in Indian Wells, Calif.
Until Friday he was winless against Alcaraz, 21, who won the French Open and Wimbledon this year and earned a silver medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this month. Alcaraz had lost only seven matches this year.
Monfils didn’t let Alcaraz’s overnight advantage get in his way to victory. He finished with 15 aces and 30 winners to counter 35 unforced errors and 12 double faults in windy conditions.
Neither player had much success breaking serves, with Monfils converting 1 of 8 and Alcaraz 1 of 7.
Alcaraz, the runner-up here in 2023, tried to close out the match in the second-set tiebreaker, but Monfils built on his early 3-1 lead to take the second set.
Alcaraz was visibly frustrated in the third set, when he smashed his racket after failing to break Monfils’ serve at 1-2.
“I felt sometimes that I wanted to break the racquet,” Alcaraz said. “It never happened before, because I could control myself in those situations, in those feelings. Most of the time I could control myself and it could go better in the matches or in the situation that I’ve been feeling before.
“Today, I couldn’t control myself, because, as I said, I was feeling that I was not playing any kind of tennis. I think some players, a lot of players, during their careers and during some certain moments, they can’t control themselves. And it was one of the moments for me.”
When Monfils clinched the match lasting two hours and 30 minutes (over two days), he became the second-oldest player to beat a top-three opponent this century. Roger Federer, at 38, defeated World No. 2 Novak Djokovic at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2019.
Monfils wasn’t done for the day, as the delay meant he had to face 15th seed Holger Rune in a third-round matchup that the Dane won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Also Friday, top seed Jannik Sinner of Italy won his third-round match in a walkover against Australia’s Jordan Thompson to reach the quarterfinals.
Third-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany emerged from a tight battle with Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 7-5, 7-6 (6). Zverev, the 2021 Cincinnati Open champion, became the 10th player to reach 30 career ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinals.
Russia’s Andrey Rublev, the sixth seed, went from rough to smooth with a 7-6, (5), 6-1 win over American wild card Brandon Nakashima in the third round. Rublev, who also defeated Nakashima last week in Montreal, next faces Sinner.
Norway’s seventh-seeded Casper Ruud didn’t make it out of the second round Friday, as Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime won 6-3, 6-1.
The Canadian’s performance was overwhelming. He pitched a 14-0 shutout in aces and dominated in winners, 26-3.
Auger-Aliassime didn’t see out the day in the tournament, though. Forced to play a second match later Friday, he fell 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to Great Britain’s Jack Draper.
Fifth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland pushed past Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
American Ben Shelton, the 12th seed, downed Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 6-3 in the third round and advances to meet Zverev.
In the final match of the night, the United States’ Frances Tiafoe outlasted the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (5). Tiafoe, who squandered three match points in the second-set tiebreaker, moves on to face Hurkacz in the quarterfinals.
–Field Level Media
