Gaël Monfils lost this Thursday against Fucsovics (1-6, 6-1, 7-5) despite three match points.
Gaël Monfils (45th in the world), despite three match points in his favor, was defeated 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 by the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (85th), qualified for the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 tournament. Estoril, reached on the other hand by Richard Gasquet, Thursday.
The 37-year-old Frenchman may harbor regrets after this setback conceded after two hours of play, because he missed three opportunities to close the opponent’s lead at 5-4 in his favor in the last set. Whereupon, he immediately gave in his service game, without then preventing his opponent from finishing.
Earlier, Arthur Fils (37th) experienced a similar fate, also overthrown 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 by the Chilean Cristian Garin, although less well ranked (112th). The only one of the three French people to qualify, Gasquet did so in the afternoon by beating Dominic Thiem 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), like him, a former member of the Top 10 and far from the level that was his when he won the US Open in 2020.
The 37-year-old Frenchman, struggling since the start of the season and now in 122nd place in the world, showed solidity for his entry into the competition on Portuguese clay, even if he was scared in the second set . He in fact conceded his serve for the first time in the match, to let the Austrian (91st) come back to level and even obtain two equalizing points in a set throughout the tie-break.
But Gasquet held on and was able to finish in this decisive game, to pocket his… second victory on the main circuit in 2024. Beaten by Lucas Pouille in qualifying, the Biterrois was drafted after the withdrawal of Alejandro Davidovich. A second chance which he takes advantage of, since he can reach the semi-finals, if he beats another Spaniard, Pedro Martinez on Friday.
