Second seed Gael Monfils held his nerve to edge out Ivo Karlovic 7-6(6), 7-6(6), in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Open.
Facing the daunting prospect of the Karlovic serve, the Frenchman was able to tame the power of the Croat throughout the match and levelled him on the ace count at nine apiece. Monfils had a double chance to clinch the opener 6-4, but failed to secure the breakthrough. Despite the disappointment, he secured the set with the help of a drop shot that landed just inside the baseline.
At the age of 37, Karlovic has a wealth of experience when it comes to falling behind in matches. This experience seemed to prove pivotal as the Croat made use of a fragile Monfils service game to break and lead 4-1 in the deciding set. Falling behind, Monfils triumphantly responded he his rival unexpectedly faltered. Hitting a backhand down the line, Monfils moved to a 7-6 lead in what was a tense tiebreaker. Victory was then gifted to the Frenchman thanks to a forehand error from Karlovic.
Impressively Monfils won 81% of his service points against Karlovic to book a place in his sixth semifinal of the season.
In the last four Monfils faces a testing encounter with sixth seed Nick Kyrgios. The 21-year-old Australian wowed the crowd during his 6-4, 6-2, dismissal of Gilles Muller. Hitting 18 aces and 32 winners, Kyrgios never appeared to be in any danger against Muller throughout the match.
“I thought I played great today,” said the 21-year-old. “I served well, returned well and my engagement level was really good the whole time.”
Displaying tennis that could be mistaken for an exhibition match, Kyrgios hit a tween shot during one of the best rallies of the entire match.
Nick Kyrgios en estado puro. pic.twitter.com/0XUTc8K8PJ
— Nacho Mühlenberg (@NachoMuhlenberg) 7 October 2016
In the other section of the draw, Maric Cilic overcame a close opening set to down Argentina’s Juan Monaco 7-5, 6-1. Closing in on the win the former US Open champion won eight consecutive points on his serve to progress to the semifinals. The one-sided second set was entirely down to Cilic’s dominance, Monaco encountered some physical problems as the match progressed.
“It was a tough first set,”Cilic told local media.
“I was a break up and had a break point to go 5-1, and after that I made a lot of unforced errors and lost my serve. But I think he also played well and it wasn’t easy to hit the ball past him.
“I managed to get that first set and then in the second he started to feel some trouble. After that, he was more or less out of the match.”
Cilic now has the chance to get revenge against David Goffin, whom he has lost two in their two previous meetings this year. Goffin defeated Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
