Gael Monfils Saves MP To Beat Ivo Karlovic For Washington Title; Yanina Wickmayer Wins Two

by Staff | July 24th, 2016, 11:16 pm
  • 11 Comments

Frenchman Gael “Force” Monfils kicked off his summer hardcourt season with his first title in Washington. And he did it the hard way.
ADHEREL
The No. 2-seeded Monfils came from a set down in the final to defeat No. 13-seeded “Dr.” Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4 saving a match point.

“It’s a real pleasure for me,” said Monfils, who won his first title in two years. “When I first came, I saw big names like Arthur Ashe and Yannick Noah and I said ‘I want to have my name next to them’. They have been big inspirations for me. Every time I come here, the crowd has been really great to me and amazing.”

Karlovic was attempting to become the oldest player to win an ATP singles titles in successive weeks since Ken Rosewall in Osaka and Tokyo in October 1973 after winning Newport last week.


“My serve stopped [when serving for the match],” said Karlovic who had won his last eight matches. “It happens I guess. I’m not used to that. I was going to win and I lost my serve. That is tennis. Of course, every match you have a little bit of pressure. I’ve dealt with that in many matches and usually I’m able to get over it. Today I couldn’t. But it was a great week.”

Monfils improved his poor record in finals to 6-19. It was also his first career ATP 500 level title and is first outside of Europe. Monfils became the first man from France to win Washington since Arnaud Clement beat Andy Murray in 2006.

In the women’s event, Yanina Wickmayer won both the singles and the doubles. The Belgian defeated Lauren Davis 6-4, 6-2 for his fifth career WTA title.

On Saturday, she teamed with Monica Niculescu to defeat the all-Japanese pair of Shuko Aoyama Risa Ozaki 6-4, 6-3 for the doubles title.


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11 Comments for Gael Monfils Saves MP To Beat Ivo Karlovic For Washington Title; Yanina Wickmayer Wins Two

skeezer Says:

Quite the era that 37 yr olds can almost win an ATP title. But, the 17th ranked favorite of elina prevails. A stunner.
Weak ERA is upon us.


AndyMira Says:

Surprise or not..they’ve won..that’s the important thing..i like them both..Monfils deserved to win since he’s one of the great player that has so much talent in him and unfortunately always encountered many frustrating moment when it came to the final stage..and Konta..she stole my interest at AO this year..i like her game style and has a nice attitude it seems..hopefully with this titles will give them both more confidence to pursuit more titles in the future..


brando Says:

good match check this funny gif monfils with kids in chinese disneyland beijing 2015 http://imgur.com/gallery/lhItc


AndyMira Says:

Can’t believe it!!This is the 3rd time sean!!!What are you doing??Or should i say ‘not doing’?My very innocent post got moderation twice..but THIS??


AndyMira Says:

But at least he @ she not toying with OUR SaintDani’s name today..that’s a relief!


elina Says:

HR sets ’em up and TB nails it yet again. Shammon.

St. Roger has fallen to 10th in the race to London with no end to the free fall in sight.

If that happened to Nadal, “Staff” would have it as top page news on TX but nary a word. Maybe Roger could take some lessons from Dr. Ivo for wot ails Him.

On a happier note, ALLEZ GAEL!!!!!


skeezer Says:

^what have you been smokin?
No HR and TB here. You missed the nail with your Hammer.
Lol!


J-Kath Says:

Elina:

Yes “allez” Gael.


MMT Says:

A few (somewhat) interesting historical details:

Monfils is the 4th black player to win the title (in a predominantly black city), after Arthur Ashe (1973), Yannick Noah (1985) and James Blake (2002). He is the 3rd frenchman, after Noah and Clement (2006), and it was his second successive final, after losing the title here in 2011 to Radek Stepanek.

Another thing I learned, which I find fascinating: Bjorn Borg played the Citi Open, but not back when it was on clay (of which he was the king). It was in 1992, while attempting a second comeback at age 36 (with a wood racquet no less) where he lost in the qualifiers to Thomas Hogstedt. The title went to Peter Korda that year.

That’s right the current coach of Madison Keys (who plays Venus Williams today in Montreal) and former coach of Maria Sharapova and Genie Bouchard.

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