A year ago, Johnson lost to Isner in the semifinals but this time managed to beat the only American player ranked in front him.
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Monfils became the third French player to win the Washington crown after Yannick Noah in 1985 and Arnaud Clement in 2006 and noted how Noah and 1973 victor Arthur Ashe were special inspirations to him.
On a sizzling Sunday afternoon in Northwest Washington, Monfils rallied to defeat Ivo Karlovic, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, to add his name alongside his childhood heroes. Yannick Noah is the only other player from France to win the title, in 1985.
“I grew up with those names”, Monfils said.
“I was trying to mix (it up) a lot on my serves, and of course going more to his backhand because that is his weaker shot, Karlovic explained”.
“If it was a normal match I would have won it right there”, Karlovic said.
Trailing in a tiebreaker, Johnson managed to put a 235km/h serve into play and then made a decision to try something even more audacious: lob his two-metre-tall opponent.
“Ivo is the same”, said Monfils, who has accumulated 15 breaks of serve this week. The 25th-ranked American could not even force a tiebreaker, as one break in each set was enough for Karlovic to get the job done 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 18 minutes. Both men faced little trouble holding service games with Karlovic particularly vexing Monfils. He broke his rival twice to rushed into a 5-0 lead, and the match was over a few moments later, as he finished it with a love service game. It happens I guess. But I’m not used to that.
“It’s such a great feeling to win titles and to hold that trophy at the end of the week”, said Wickmayer, who entered with a ranking of 44th.
Monfils, who is 29, tried a bit of everything.
Things were looking bleak for Gael Monfils, a man with a long history of losing tournament finals.
In the third game of the second set, Karlovic rocketed a service return forehand victor past Johnson and then dropped a slice backhand victor on the line to break for a 2-1 lead. Fognini stayed untouched on serve in the opening set, not letting deuce on his serve, and he converted his 4th break point in game 10 to take the opener 6-4. But Monfils found success on the hard courts in the nation’s capital, capturing his first ATP 500 tournament.
A runner-up at this event in 2011, Monfils won the tiebreaker and broke Karlovic again early in the third set before going on to his sixth career ATP title.
France’s Gael Monfils, seeking his first ATP crown outside Europe, and Ivo Karlovic, nearing titles in consecutive weeks at age 37, advanced to the ATP and WTA Washington Open final in sweltering conditions yesterday.
Monfils certainly lit up the DC crowd on Sunday.
“The crowd has been incredible”, Monfils said.
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“(Trailing Gasquet) felt like the world was crashing down”, Johnson said. He earned a championship point with a backhand passing shot down the line, his seventh backhand victor of the match that elicited some of the loudest cheers of the day.
