Gael Monfils won his all-French affair with Richard Gasquet during first-round action at Wimbledon on Monday. Monfils is joined in the last 64 by 2017 runner-up Marin Cilic, who made light work of Yoshihito Nishioka.
Gael Monfils def. (23) Richard Gasquet 7-6(6), 7-5, 6-4
World No. 44 Gael Monfils dispatched countryman Richard Gasquet in a tight three-set victory on opening day at the All-England Club. Monfils came into Wimbledon off a semifinal showing in Antalya, but he hadn’t beaten a top 30 player in months. The flamboyant Frenchman won three of six break points, while holding Gasquet to just one out of seven.
Perhaps the most interesting moment of the match came when Monfils was credited with a Wimbledon record-breaking 150 mph serve–only to have it promptly taken away. The cause? A faulty radar gun. The serve in question was apparently “only” 135 mph, and thus Taylor Dent’s previous record of 148 mph from the 2010 Championships still stands.
Monfils will take on world No. 86 Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in the second round.
(3) Marin Cilic def. Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
World No. 5 Marin Cilic of Croatia, one of a handful of players considered a contender to lift the trophy in a fortnight, rolled through his opening-round match against Yoshihito Nishioka, the promising young player from Mie, Japan. The youngster, who was once ranked as high as 58th in the world, was sidelined with a knee injury in 2017 and comes into the 2018 season at No. 248 and playing part-time on the Challenger circuit to boost his ranking.
Cilic closed out the match in one hour and 46 minutes and smacked 21 aces to three double-faults, earning his spot in the second round. The Croat sits just behind odds-on favorite Roger Federer to win the tournament.
Next up for Cilic is the No. 82-ranked Guido Pella from Argentina.
nice one, La Monf
Bummer about the serve, though. He thought he had it.
interesting stuff. and yeah Monfils can bang it when he wants to.