French Open: Monfils battles through, Federer and Sharapova advance

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  • Pumped up: Monfils.

    Parisian fans warmed up their vocal chords for tonight’s French Cup final between Paris Saint-Germain and Auxerre by turning Court Suzanne Lenglen into a carnival, their chants bringing home favourite Gael Monfils back from the brink of defeat.

    The acrobatic Monfils found himself down two sets to one and trailing by a double-break in the fourth set against Uruguayan world No 23 Pablo Cuevas.

    Just two games away from defeat, the No 13 seed broke Cuevas to love to level the set at four-all and never looked back, taking the next two games to force a fifth set – his second decider in three days – and sending the crowd into a frenzy.

    The Stade de France on Saturday evening will have a lot to live up to in terms of atmosphere. Cuevas broke in the opening game of the fifth set but Monfils was not letting go, breaking back and going up 3-1.

    He sealed a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win on his first match point, with a swift inside out forehand winner and celebrated by miming hugs to all corners of the stadium followed by a series of “mercis” in his on-court interview with countryman Cedric Pioline. Asked if the crowd resurrected him, Monfils responded: “I’m a phoenix.”

    Earlier in the day, Roger Federer, Monfils’ next opponent, recalled the first time he stood on a court face to face with one of his idols. He was taking on Pete Sampras in the fourth round at Wimbledon and won the match in five sets.

    For many years now, Federer has stood across the net from countless players who have idolised him and in the third round on Friday the Swiss made one such player’s dream come true as he took on Damir Dzumhur.

    Except Dzumhur wasn’t able to beat his idol, instead suffering a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Federer, who is now through to the fourth round in Paris for an 11th consecutive year.

    Dzumhur, the first Bosnian man to ever contest a grand slam, impressed with some smooth drop shots and aggressive play, even breaking the Federer serve once when the world No2 was serving for the second set at 5-2. But it was never enough in the face of a Federer master-class.

    “I was warming up and I was still not believing that I’m playing Roger Federer. Really, it was such a strange feeling, like I’m dreaming. But then suddenly I switched when I started to play. Most important thing was that I started to serve good in the first set. Then it was easier to play with him,” said the 23-year-old Dzumhur.

    Federer, who struck 38 winners against 22 unforced errors, was impressed by the Bosnian’s game.

    “I was eager to see him. I was very much looking forward to it, because he had defeated big players, Mikhail Youzhny and Marcos Baghdatis… players I have played many times. He was able to beat them quite easily. I wondered, how did he do it?” said the 33-year-old star.

    “I can see now why he was such a challenger. He was able to send some great returns from the back of the court. He’s not a very tall guy, and he’s very successful. 

    “He moves very swiftly. He misses very few balls. Mentally he’s very much there during the match. Even when he loses three, four points, it’s okay. He just keeps going. That’s the kind of attitude that can take you very far in tennis.” 

    Meanwhile on the women’s side, defending champion Maria Sharapova appeared very emotional after she wrapped up a 6-3, 6-4 win over former runner-up Sam Stosur in cold, cloudy and windy conditions. Sharapova has been ill all week and was battling between coughing fits on court. 

    “Considering the start of the week was really tough, I just wanted to be as ready as I could. I was really happy to win it,” said Sharapova, who next faces Czech lefty Lucie Safarova.

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