FILE PHOTO: Tennis – Australian Open – Fourth Round – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 27, 2020 France’s Gael Monfils in action during his match against Austria’s Dominic Thiem REUTERS/Issei Kato
February 9, 2020
Top-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils defeated Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday to become the second three-time winner of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier.
Monfils saved all four break points he faced and improved to 6-0 against Pospisil. He tied countryman Richard Gasquet with his third Montpellier crown, the eighth ATP title of his career.
Monfils earned the first break of the match in the 12th game, putting together powerful backhand and forehand passing shots to take the set. Two double faults by Pospisil gave Monfils a triple break point in the eighth game of the second set, and the world No. 9 served out the match.
Tata Open Maharashtra
Unseeded Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic ended a five-year title drought with a 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-3 victory over No. 8 seed Egor Gerasimov of Belarus in Pune, India.
Vesely, who won his maiden tour title in Auckland in 2015, fired 26 aces and earned the key break with four straight points to take a 2-0 lead in the deciding set.
Vesely became the eighth player since 2013 to win a tournament after saving match points in multiple matches. He survived two match points against Ilya Ivashka of Belarus in the quarterfinals and fought off four more in the semifinals against No. 2 seed Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania.
–Field Level Media
