Andy Murray defeated Gael Monfils at an ATP Challenger in Aix En Provence to win his first clay-court match of the 2023 season.
If you're someone who stopped watching tennis 7 years ago and started just now, you're probably surprised to find out that three-time Grand Slam champion and former world no. 1, Andy Murray, and 11-time ATP title winner and former world no. 6, Gael Monfils, met in the first round of an ATP Challenger tournament.
But that's what just happened in France. While the Frenchman is returning from an injury in search of his old form, Murray is trying to get some matches under his belt after an early exit from the 2023 Madrid Open.
Both made the decision to sign up for a Challenger tournament and the tennis gods had a very good mood when making them clash already in the first round as two wild cards. The two met plenty of times before, with their last meeting played in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Roland Garros.
Back then, Murray emerged victorious in give sets and nine years later, he wanted to follow up on that victory. And he was doing well against Monfils who is still trying to find his A-game and it was obvious against the Scot who also isn't at his peak.
Murray broke his opponent's serve two times in the first set and since the Frenchman found the answer only once, the former world no. 1 won it 6-3.
In the second set, Murray managed to get two breaks once more, but this time, it was without a response from Monfils as the Scot won the match 6-3, 6-2 to set up a second round clash with another Frenchman, Laurent Lokoli.
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