Carlos Alcaraz got the revenge that he likely really wanted, beating Gael Monfils in the fourth round of the 2024 Shanghai Masters.
The Frenchman might not be as active on the ATP Tour as he once was or winning as many matches, but every now and then, even at 38 years of age, he's still able to produce magic on the tennis court.
That has been the case this year in Cincinnati, when Monfils beat Alcaraz in three sets, even though the young Spaniard later said that it was the worst match of his tennis career.
Now, they were set to meet at yet another ATP Masters 1000 tournament, this time in Shanghai. The stage was set for their fourth-round match, but Monfils kept it very humble ahead of the meeting.
Knowing that Alcaraz's level wasn't the best when they met the last time, the French player predicted that he would be crushed by his opponent in Shanghai, once again describing the 21-year-old as a legend.
Although Monfils was right in that he would lose the match, he wasn't right about being crushed because the 38-year-old was able to bring a really solid level to the court to provide enough resistance for his opponent.
Both players held their serve relatively easily in the first set of the match, and it was actually Monfils who had the first break point in the match in the sixth game, leading 3-2 and 40-30 on his opponent's serve.
The experienced Frenchman couldn't use that chance and it would later come to haunt him as only a few games later, his opponent created not one, but two chances to break Monfils' serve.
The French player saved the first one, but Alcaraz used the second one to break and later served out the opening set, which he won 6-4 to establish a one-set lead in the match.
In the second set, Monfils was once again able to play at a very high level, but once again, it wasn't enough to steal the set from the four-time Grand Slam champion, who has been on a level above everyone else in recent weeks.
Alcaraz got to the first break point in the fifth game of the second set, recovering a 0-40 deficit to find himself one point away from breaking Monfils' serve, which was very solid in the match, as he hit ten aces and hit his first serve 70% of the time.
It was also because of that that the Spaniard couldn't break in that game. However, a few games later, the same exact scenario repeated itself. Alcaraz was down 0-40 but rallied back to find himself a break point up.
He again couldn't convert his first chance, but this time, the difference was that he created two more chances and used the third one and fourth overall in the set to break and lead 6-5 in the second set.
Once again, the third seed had no issues closing out the set, and this time also the match, to win 6-4, 7-5, and reach the quarter-finals of the 2024 Shanghai Masters, awaiting the winner of the match between the 11th-seeded Tommy Paul and 30th-seeded Tomas Machac.
If the Spaniard wins this match, he will play either reigning World No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Jannik Sinner or former World No. 1 and one-time major winner Daniil Medvedev in the semi-final.
After this win over Monfils, it was clear that the Spaniard was satisfied with his performance. He mainly highlighted calmness as the main quality that carried him to the win.
"The main thing I tried is to stay calm. Just to control my emotions. Waited for my chances. I had some opportunities that I could break his serve in the second set but I didn’t make it. In those times I tried to stay calm and think that I’m gonna have more chances."
"I tried to stay as calm as I could during the match. That helped me a lot to show my best tennis during the whole match. I’m feeling the ball really well. Feeling it much more than I was in the American swing. I’m just happy to do it, and hopefully, I’ll keep going."