Monfils to face Federer today after ousting Dimitrov

Gaël Monfils 

Gael Monfils is ready to face Roger Federer in the quarter-finals of the US open after an impressive victory over 7th seed Grigor Dimitrov. The match promised much but eventually turned out to be a pretty straight forward affair. The Frenchman made quick work of the match and closed it out in a comfortable 3 sets.

Even though the score line read 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, Monfils never really looked under any threat from the Bulgarian nicknamed as Baby Federer.

Both players make a quick start

The match started with both players holding their serves with relative ease and after 1-1 in the 1st set the stats from both players looked identical. With windy conditions, Dimitrov served first up and held comfortably throwing in a couple of aces also. Monfils was not to be outdone and it was a case of anything you can do I can do too as he also held his serve comfortably with a couple of aces of his own.

The match continued much the same till the 5-5 when Monfils finally got the first break points of the match. Dimitrov was able to save the 1st break point but eventually conceded on the 2nd attempt to hand Monfils a 6-5 advantage. With a break so late in the set, the Frenchman didn’t waste any time and closed out the 1st set 7-5 in 34 minutes.

Momentum change back and forth

The 2nd set picked up from where the 1st left off. Monfils started finding some good angles and ripped some great winners from around the baseline. At the same time, Dimitrov was finding it difficult to keep the ball in on more than one occasion. It seemed that he was putting in just a little extra effort than necessary and that lead to a string of misses from his racquet.

Taking advantage of this, Monfils quickly went up a break in the 2nd set in the 5th game after the Bulgarian double faulted at a crucial time. However, this advantage wouldn’t last for long as Monfils struggled in the 2nd set with his serve where he committed 5 double faults. Dimitrov seized the opportunity to break back on his 3rd attempt and to level the set at 4 games apiece.

A bit of momentum change could be observed at this point as Dimitrov gained in confidence after the break. He was also mixing things up nicely by using the serve and volley to goo extent. The set went to a tie break and Dimitrov had the early initiative going up a mini-break at 2-0. However, he was not able to capitalize on this as he gave away too many easy points even though Monfils was not playing the same high level of tennis as when he started the match. Dimitrov missed another easy winner on set point and he would immediately rue that missed chance as Monfils took the tie break 8-6 and with it the 2nd set.

Monfils struggles physically  

Monfils started the 3rd set looking physically worn out. He was seen bending over and regaining his energy on more than one occasion. His game also seemed to be deflated as he put in a half hearted effort on couple of points. Despite this slump in energy, Monfils was still able to hold his service with relative ease and Dimitrov just couldn’t find a way past him.

Monfils saved a couple of break points in the 3rd game and from there on both players held their serve till 5-5. Once again as in the first set, Dimitrov surrendered his service to hand Monfils a 6-5 lead and potentially the match. And in no time, the match ended as Monfils held his next service game to close out a one sided victory in 2 hours and 24 minutes.

Key statistics from the match

Stats                                     Grigor Dimitrov                             Gaël Monfils
Aces	11	14
Double faults	4	6
1st serves in	59/103 (57%)	73/111 (66%)
1st serve points won	43/59 (73%)	57/73 (78%)
2nd serve points won	26/44 (59%)	22/38 (58%)
Net points won	23/35 (66%)	6/10 (60%)
Break points won	1/7 (14%)	3/4 (75%)
Winners	31	29
Unforced errors	38	30
Total points won	101	113

Overall, Monfils played a solid defensive game which drew errors from the Bulgarian’s racquet. The Frenchman kept inviting Dimitrov to pull the trigger and the Dimitrov forehand was not up to the task on this particular day. It was neither accurate nor consistent enough to cause any threat to Monfils and in the end the result was a straight sets victory for the 20th seed. With this victory Monfils moves on to the quarter finals of the 2014 US Open and will face the 17 times Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.