Jannik Sinner needed three sets to defeat Gael Monfils the last time they played, which also happened this time at the 2024 Rotterdam Open.
Sinner and Monfils last played in Canada last year, with the Italian squeezing out a win in three sets. It was the maiden ATP Masters 1000 title run for the Italian, whose career took off after that triumph.
He arrived in Rotterdam with a Grand Slam trophy in his bag, hoping to go one step further than last year - the final. To do that, he had to face Monfils, which seemed like a simple matchup on paper but really wasn't.
Sinner started well in the opening set by cruising through his service game and doing just enough to break Monfils once en route to a 6-3 finish.
The second set saw the French veteran bounce back behind a very aggressive display that pushed Sinner around it too much. The Italian didn't adjust well and sprayed far too many errors, allowing Monfils to take that second set 6-3.
It was pretty unrealistic for the situation to remain that way, as Sinner was likely to stop spraying so many errors while Monfils wasn't going to play another clean set like that.
Predictably, things shifted to normal at the start of the final set, with Sinner jumping out to another early lead of 3-0. Monfils tried the same approach as he had in the second set, but he couldn't hold the high enough level.
He was the one spraying errors now while Sinner was hitting most of his shots. He nearly made it 4-0, but Monfils was able to stop the bleeding.
In the end, Sinner didn't have any problems finishing things off in three sets. He finished the match with only 13 winners, but he spread them out nicely, and it worked out well 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
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