Gaël Monfils is surprising. While he has great difficulties on clay, a surface where he has obtained some of his best results, the 37-year-old Parisian is performing well on grass, a surface that he has always had difficulty taming and on which he had not played since 2021. The world number 40 qualified on Thursday for the semi-finals of the ATP 250 in Mallorca (Spain) by dominating (6-3, 4-6, 6-4) the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (122nd), in a duel of former top 10 players. He reaches his first semi-final on grass since 2018 and the ATP 250 in Antalya.
Monfils relied on his particularly efficient serve: 15 aces (6 double faults all the same), 77% of points won behind his first ball. He led 6-3, 4-2 but the 36-year-old Spaniard fought back while the Frenchman, who slipped and called for the physiotherapist, came out of his match and conceded the next four games, and therefore , the and.
Tabilo in the semi-finals
Monfils broke early in the third set and led 4-2, 5-2 point, double break, erased by Bautista Agut, who came back to 4-4. Monfils finally managed to take back the opponent’s serve before concluding with an ace on his fifth match point. A match that lasted a total of 2h31.
Monfils will face Chilean Alejandro Tabilo (24th) for a place in the final, a solid winner (6-4, 6-4) of the young Czech Jakub Mensik (19 years old, 85th). In case of victory, he would be in the final of a tournament on grass for the first time since 2017 and the ATP 250 in Eastourne. He lost in two sets (6-3, 6-4) to Novak Djokovic.
