Nadal Grinds Down Monfils To Advance, Retains No. 2 Ranking

Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils have to be two of the most entertaining and athletic players on tour. It was a lot of big hitting, long rallies and ridiculous gets. As billed, this match did not disappoint, at least for two sets.

Monfils came out hitting big and running down everything. The Frenchman was getting into long rallies with Nadal and winning them. His defense-to-offense was amazing. The question of the evening would be if the Frenchman could sustain that kind of play for three to five sets.

On the other side of the net, Nadal looked tentative and made a lot of forehand errors. The Spaniard started coming into the net. It looked like he was trying to shorten points because of his physical condition since there were lots of questions about it before the match.

Early in the first set, Monfils struck first by breaking Nadal during his second service game, and he quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Things looked bleak for the Spaniard until he changed rackets in game eight and started finding his range with his shots. Nadal broke back in the ninth game and then held serve to level the set at 5-5. In the tiebreak, Nadal made two costly errors, and Monfils came up with some really big shots. This allowed the Frenchman to win the tiebreak and the set.

All was even in the second set. In game five, the Frenchman has a bad game, and you know who took advantage. Next game, it was Nadal’s turn for a sloppy game, and Monfils accepted the charity. After a set and a half of pounding it out with the Majorcan, Monfils was tired and was keeling over at the end of points. On cue, Nadal broke back and served for the set at 5-3. Nadal held to win the set. Most importantly, Nadal already wore Monfils down.

Nadal drew blood first in the third set and was off to the races. The Spaniard was back to wearing his opponent down, and then steamrolling his way over him for the victory. The former no. 1 eventually chopped down Monfils 6-7(3) 6-3 6-1 6-3 to advance into the quarterfinals and sent home the lone Frenchman in the draw.

This was the first match since his return where Nadal started to look like his own self and seemed more confident. He was back to his deep, penetrating shots and pushing his opponent around. Hopefully, he can continue to play his way into the tournament.

In the short-term, he will have to contend with Fernando Gonzalez and his big forehand in the quarterfinals. The Chilean played really well in his fourth-round match with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Nadal leads their matchup 6-3. It will be another challenge for him, but he will definitely win if he is up to it. With his win and Murray’s loss yesterday, the Spaniard is now back in the number two slot.

At the end of his match, a fan ran onto the court and tried to kiss him. The fan would later be arrested for interfering with a sporting event. Nadal was a sport about it. When asked about the incident in his press conference:

Rafa: For me, it wasn’t a problem. The guy was really nice.
Question: Did he say anything?
Rafa: Yes, he was a great fan. He said, “I love you,” and he kissed me.
Question: Was he speaking in Spanish or English?
Rafa: No, in English but I understand that.

(Image: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)