It was a dramatic finish for Roger Federer against Gael Monfils in Madrid. With this win, he completed his 1200th match win. He is the only player after American Jimmy Connors (1274 wins) to achieve this rare distinction.
The Match
It was a one-sided first set when Monfils conquered only 9 points. Federer won it easily 6-0.
Monfils was a completely different man in the 2nd set when he broke Federer’s serve twice to win 6-4. At one stage Gael had an advantage in the set at 4-2, Federer, however, broke back and could have made it 5-5 if Monfils had not saved a critical break with a fantastic volley when Federer had a good ball on the forehand.
Monfils again opened well in the 3rd set and took a 4-1 lead. Federer, however, made an incredible comeback by breaking Monfils’ service in the 7th game after hitting a fantastic returning passing shot which helped him break Monfils serve in the decider (3-4). When Federer was 5-6 down he saved the first match point by going to the net on the second serve. Then he saved the second one with a courageous forehand.
Federer started strongly in the tiebreak to lead (5-1) and went on to win it (7-3).
Federer beat Monfils 6-0 4-6 7-6(3) in 2 hours.
Perhaps the difference between the two players came around the end of the match when Federer started to become more aggressive by going continuously at the net.
Mixing up was key to win. FEDERER
Federer accepted that it was a tough match and he felt stressful:
“I tried to keep it going but it was difficult. I had a tough run of losing five games in a row at the end of the second set and the start of the third.
Going down 3-0 and 4-1, it wasn’t looking good for a while but I hung in there like he did and it got decided in a tiebreaker.
It was a highly stressful moment for me but I played a great tiebreaker, served well and mixed it up nicely so I’m very excited I was able to come through the match somehow.”
Federer will now face Austrian Dominic Thiem in the quarters.