Carlos Alcaraz Cruises Past Monfils to reach Last 16 in Miami - UBITENNIS

Carlos Alcaraz Cruises Past Monfils to reach Last 16 in Miami

Carlos Alcaraz strolls past a tiring Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-4 to reach the fourth round in Miami

By Anshu Taneja
4 Min Read

Carlos Alcaraz, who won the Indian Wells title last week and is attempting to become the eighth man to claim the Sunshine Double, easily dispatched Gael Monfils after a clinical performance in the evening session on the Hard Rock Stadium Court. 

The match began with some beautiful shot making and Monfils executed his tactics perfectly in the opening four games, worrying the top seed multiple times. However, the Frenchman found himself in trouble in the fifth game going down 0-30 after a lengthy rally during which he landed awkwardly going wide for a backhand. He meekly surrendered the next two points and was broken to love.

Monfils chose not to call the trainer and instead stretched out and spoke to his coach on the change of ends for inspiration. But the Spaniard grew in confidence from the back of the court and broke serve again before closing out the opening set in 32 minutes with just six unforced errors and 82% of first serve points won.

Alcaraz, who won the tournament here two years ago, beat Monfils in straight sets on the hard courts at Indian Wells in their only meeting so far. He broke serve at the start of the second set and looked in total control in all aspects of his game as Monfils could not find any way into the match. He looked bemused many times, marveling at the speed and power from his younger opponent and frequently applauded winners coming from the other side of the net. 

Alcaraz broke serve for the second time with a sizzling 104mph forehand winner and raced to a 5-1 lead but wobbled a little later when he tried to serve out the match at 5-2. He was easily broken by Monfils who was going for broke and had the support of the feverish crowd.

Twenty-year-old Alcaraz has already amassed over £27m in on-court earnings, and was watched on by former world number three Juan Martin del Potro, football superstar Neymar Junior and six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler. The top seed admitted he found it hard to concentrate:

“For me it was difficult to stay focused in the match having legends from every sport here, it was great for me. I tried to show some great tennis and make them happy as well and make them enjoy watching my game. It’s a great opportunity to have them around.”

After the match Alcaraz was asked about the importance of using his fearsome forehand and replied: “Gael is a great athlete, he reads almost every ball so you have to be patient but at the same time with my best shot, I have to try to move him around the court and try to get him tired a little bit and give myself the chance to dominate the point and also try to come to the net, hitting my best shots. That’s what I tried to do in the match and it worked pretty well and I’m really happy with that.”

Alcaraz received a bye in the first round and only lost three games in the previous round. He finished the match with ten forehand winners and goes on to face Lorenzo Musetti for a place in the quarter-finals.  

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