Unlike Benoît Paire a few minutes earlier, Gaël Monfils made an excellent start to the match against Matteo Berrettini. But the Frenchman finally bowed out in two sets (6-4, 6-2) on Wednesday in Melbourne. This defeat already condemns the French team, beaten by Italy and eliminated from the ATP Cup before even facing Dominic Thiem’s Austria on Thursday.
Monfils, however, entered the game better than his opponent, who committed several big mistakes and quickly conceded his entry. Aggressive and very mobile, the Frenchman took the lead to lead 4-1, 0-30. But the Italian suddenly raised his level of play, the one that had allowed him to outclass world No. 3 Dominic Thiem the day before (6-2, 6-4).
Returned to 4-3, Berrettini saved three break points that would have allowed Monfils to serve for the win in the first set. In the process, the Parisian, too impatient in his acceleration (13 winning strokes, 34 unforced errors), gave up his commitment and then the set. “There are plenty of ways to be aggressive, being aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean looking for the winning shot at 200 km / h”, advised Richard Ruckelshausen, one of his two Austrian coaches with Günter Bresnik, who is not in Australia.
Monfils hit in the right shoulder
In the second set, Monfils was disturbed by the intensity of the light in the service. “I throw the ball, I can’t see anything anymore, he railed at the change of sides. Him, he swings aces, I don’t know how he does it. “ “Aim for the sun”, suggested Paire, smiling.
Broken twice in a row and led 6-4, 4-1, the 11th in the world, hit in the right shoulder, called on the physiotherapist. “I made a bad move. “ Manipulated for several minutes, he achieved a first break in stride. But abandoned by his service (only 59% of first balls and 6 double faults), he was beaten a few moments later.
Winner of Austria on Tuesday in the decisive double (2-1), Italy wins its second group match (2-0 before the double) and secures first place in group C, thus qualifying for the semi-finals . It’s already over for France, eliminated even before facing Austria on Thursday (from midnight). Like last year, the Blues will not come out of the ATP Cup pools.
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