In the first round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, Gael Monfils eased past Portuguese man Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-3 to set up an encounter against home favorite Vasek Pospisil in round two.
Monfils survives comeback to take opening set
Gael Monfils started the brighter and much quicker in the opening set. The Frenchman started off by holding his own serve with ease. In just the second game, he put Sousa under pressure and carved out a break point opportunity at 15-40. The Portuguese managed to save the first break point, but couldn't save the second with the 29-year-old going ahead. Sousa would vent his frustrations by yelling at his box. Following breaking, Monfils then consolidated the break to go 3-0 up. The scintillating start continued for the world number 14 when at 15-40, the 27-year-old threw in an error off his forehand side.
However, Monfils wouldn't go on to consolidate his break and the momentum would be lost. In the next game, Sousa had a double break point chance at 15-40. But Monfils saved both, however, the 36th ranked had a third break point via a double-fault which he took to stop the rot. The Guimaraes-born held serve and cut the deficit to 4-2. With the momentum swung in Sousa's favor, he continued it and played a terrific point to win his third game on the bounce for 4-3. Any momentum he had would soon be lost as he served a double-fault facing his third break point. The Frenchman only needed one set point before clinching the set 6-3.
Monfils clinches victory
At the start of the second set, Monfils raced away to a love-40 lead and aimed to get off to the perfect start. Sousa, however, denied the Frenchman by winning four points in a row to hold serve to get the set underway. Monfils held his serve much more comfortably. With two more games played, it was Sousa who was accumulating more errors and failing to put away simple shots with the set at 2-2. In the fifth game, Sousa who had struggled on serve for most of the match, served a double-fault and the Frenchman had two chances to go ahead in the set.
Both were then saved by the Portuguese man as the game went to deuce. Having failed to win the game, Sousa would be forced to save another break point before hitting a forehand wide and going down a break. Just like the first set, Sousa berated his team at the end of the game. Monfils was taken to deuce before going on to hold serve for 4-2. Two more games passed and with the score at 5-3, Sousa was serving to stay in the match. The two-time ATP champion failed to hold serve and at 40-15, Monfils broke and won the match 6-3, 6-3 to progress to the third round.
Stats and quotes
Monfils won 50 percent of his return points compared to Joao Sousa's 38 percent and fired eight aces. The Frenchman is on a six-match win streak following his triumph at the Citi Open last week.
After his win, Monfils then said a few words, "I think I've put in good work with my team. What I try to do is keep working with them and then see the results later, I like to think when I'm in my top game and with consistency, I can beat a lot of players at the top."