Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning French and Wimbledon Open champion and men’s singles silver medalist at the 2024 Olympics, has been booted out by ATP veteran and former top-10 Gael Monfils of France in a stunning turn of events at the 2024 Cincinnati Masters.
Alcaraz took a one-set lead and had a chance to finish off Monfils in the second-set tiebreaker; however, Monfils survived for another day after their late-hour match was moved to the next day.
The Frenchman gathered himself up and found his vintage form on the second day of the match, firing sharp winners and forcing Alcaraz to commit unforced errors between the second and third sets.
Monfils then won 29 points in the third and deciding set and broke Alcaraz’s serves once to complete the upset win over the former world’s No.1 player 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4.
Alcaraz broke into the tennis scene after winning the 2022 Miami Open, beating Casper Ruud of Norway 7–5, 6–4. Since then, the Spaniard has been a regular fixture in the tournament, endearing himself to tennis fans in Miami and Florida.
Just hours after coming through with a stunning win over Carlos Alcaraz, Gael Monfils will get another opportunity to knock down another seeded player Holger Rune of Denmark in the round of 16 of the 2024 Cincinnati Open.
Monfils landed 15 aces and won 78 percent of his first serves to pull off that tournament-shaking win. He will next play Denmark’s No.1 player Holger Rune, who cruised to a pedestrian 6-3 7-6(8) win over Nuno Burges of Portugal on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Rune scored 77 points in the match while breaking the Portuguese thrice. Rune will be the third straight opponent for Monfils with at least one Masters 1000 tournament title.
Holger Rune vs. Gael Monfils Prediction:
Rune is 14-6 on the hard court this season and 4-2 whenever he reaches the third round of a tournament. On the other hand, Monfils boasts an 11-7 record in hard-court matches and 1-3 in the third round.
Rune, who reached as high as the world’s No.3 in the ATP Ranking, will present a big test for Monfils because of his age and power. Moreover, Monfils will have to play his second match of the day, just hours after topping Alcaraz.
I believe that fatigue will play a major factor in this match. At 37 years old, Monfils may still have the tools to knock down another highly-ranked player but the endurance aspect of the game could take a toll on him. Our betting prediction for Holger Rune vs. Gael Monfils: Bet on Rune to win 2-0, +100, at BetMGM
THE CONVERSATION.