A few hours after creating a sensation by knocking out Carlos Alcaraz, Gaël Monfils, exhausted, came up against Holger Rune in the 8th finals in Cincinnati. The French veteran, riding high on his exploit against the Spaniard, had nevertheless won the first set against the Dane, before losing the next two (3-6, 6-3, 6-4).
Crazy day for Gaël Monfils in Cincinnati! Unfortunately, it was not crowned with a new feat for the 37-year-old French veteran who will be 38 on September 1st. Stopped in his tracks the day before by the rain against Carlos Alcaraz when he seemed on the verge of getting back to one set all, “La Monf” had not only managed to push the Spaniard into a decisive third set, but he had done even better by winning this last set and the match against the world number 3 and number 2 seed at the Ohio Masters 1000, thus becoming the second oldest player in history after Roger Federer at the 2019 Masters (the Swiss had beaten Novak Djokovic at 38) to win a member of the Top 3.
The Parisian, who was knocked out of Montreal as he was at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was obviously dreaming of creating a new sensation, this time against Holger Rune in the round of 16. The fact that his match against Alcaraz was played in two stages forced him to return to the court a few hours later to face the Dane, who had been able to benefit from a day of rest.
Monfils couldn’t take it anymore
This second match on the same day, which Monfils will not soon forget, unfortunately proved too much for the 46th in the rankings and therefore the earlier conqueror of the winner of Roland-Garros and Wimbledon but also finalist of the Paris 2024 Games.
Still haunted by his performance against the Spanish prodigy, “La Monf” certainly started his 8th final against Rune in the best possible way by winning the first set – quite easily, moreover – against the world’s 16th player. He then paid for his enormous efforts at the start of the day. Exhausted and exhausted, the Frenchman tried to fight on, but it was not enough against Rune, who calmly won the next two sets (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) during a match that was once again interrupted for a while by rain.
