The big news is not the victory of Monfils, but the fact that Nadal was in good shape! Gael was sincerely too much. He played a sensible game (something alien to him) and managed to alternate good solid rallies with his power shots.
Nadal was not that bad either. His tennis was as solid as ever. He had just a couple of little stints that were not really convincing, but that was it!
After losing the first set (1 break) the world nr.2 started the second in his fashion: huge focus and determination. This allowed him to get a quick lead 4-1. it seems to be that kind of typical situation ‘Yah, yah Gael, it’s ok… you had your glory, now is Rafa time’.
But Monfils managed to storm back with amazing shots and solid rallies. He had only a couple of nasty and useless ‘Monfils’ shots’.. the ones with strange jumps and weird faces and… guess what? He won 5 games in a row! The match ended 6-3 6-4.
‘Against Rafa, you have to have a good (first serve) percentage,’ said Monfils during an on-court interview. ‘I was very fast on court and I think I hit a couple of powerful shots. I feel great.’
Now he will play the final aginst his friend Tsonga that went through the semis due to the retirament of Roger Federer (problems to his back).
Expect some fireworks!
