Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, smiles at the crowd after beating Jack Sock, of the United States, during the fourth round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, in NY.
Advertisement
His efforts have given him a good chance of qualifying as one of the top-eight players for the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London.
Sure made for good videos, all those parallel-to-the-court dives or 360-degree smashes or racket-between-the-legs shots.
Gael Monfils reached his first Grand Slam semifinal since 2008 with a straight-set victory at the U.S. Open over 24th-seeded Lucas Pouille, who upset Rafael Nadal a round earlier.
The 10th-seeded Monfils beat an error-prone Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in an all-French quarterfinal that concluded under Arthur Ashe Stadium’s retractable roof.
Afterward, Monfils took a swipe at those who have questioned his methods. “No, I dive because I want to win the point”. When you make the show, honestly, it’s to entertain, but it’s (also) to win. So what’s the point to make the show and lose? “So with all the respect to everyone, it’s you guys who put me on the spot”, he said.
Pouille was unable to reproduce the form that saw him stun Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, but the 22-year-old will already be targeting success in 2017 after reaching back-to-back Grand Slam quarters. But the entertaining Monfils has been playing the best tennis of his career lately, winning all 15 sets he’s played during this tournament.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It’s a court I love”. I just kept going with my game plan’. Through the first six games, when the score was 3-all, there had been four service breaks and the players had combined for 26 unforced errors, accounting for almost half of the match’s points until then.
No one ever has won four consecutive five-setters at a major in the Open era, which dates to 1968. That resulted in a double-fault that ceded the set.
By reaching the semi-finals here, Monfils has made amends in a way for the quarter-final defeat here by Federer in 2014, when he failed to take two match points and lost from two sets up. I think I did it great today’.
Also of interest to them will be Tuesday’s other men’s quarterfinal, when a third Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, takes on No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
It’s the first time in 89 years that three French men have reached the quarter-finals of the USA championships.
Monfils said he “might watch a little bit” of Djokovic vs. Tsonga, pulling for what he called “a full French semifinal”.
Monfils, the 10th seed, first broke to sneak a 4-3 lead which he quickly converted into taking the opening set.
Vinci was the runner-up at Flushing Meadows a year ago, reaching her first major final by stunning Serena Williams to end the American’s bid for the first calendar-year Grand Slam in more than a quarter-century. In the 2009 U.S. Open semifinals, Williams was angered by the same type of call: a foot fault that resulted in a double-fault; in that instance, it set up match point for her opponent, Kim Clijsters. The ninth-seeded Tsonga presents a huge step up in competition, though Djokovic owns a 15-6 advantage in the head-to-head series – including a victory in the 2008 Australian Open final for the Serb’s first major title.
Wozniacki is a two-time U.S. Open runner-up, at least.
Advertisement
He played crisply in his win Sunday over 21-year-old Kyle Edmund, who was in his first Grand Slam round of 16, but it’s still unclear just how healthy or sharp Djokovic is.
