Former top-ten player Gael Monfils of France eliminated 2010 finalist and fifth seed Roger Federer of Switzerland on Thursday to progress to the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
This is Monfils’ second win out of eight matches against the Swiss Maestro and it was a hard fought victory with the Frenchman needing three sets 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and nine minutes.
“I knew that I choked on this forehand at 5-4 [in the tie-break],” said Monfils. “Then I changed my ideas because I was maybe nervous, too. Even [though] I was tired, I tried to play more aggressively sometimes, going more for my shots and it worked.
“It’s a good win for me. I feel a bit sorry for him because I know he’s running for London. But it’s tennis. He’s going to have more opportunity those weeks coming up.”
Federer is aiming to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the 12th straight yet. This is one of the rarest times that the Swiss star will have to scramble for a spot in this elite eight-man event that he’s won six times.
“He’s still strong,” said Monfils. “It’s just a matter of confidence, I think. I have no doubt that he will get back to the way people expect him [to play].”
Monfils will face defending champion Novak Djokovic for a place in the semifinals. Djokovic eliminated Fabio Fognini of Italy.
“[It was] one of those matches that could have gone either way,” said Federer. “I think I was a little lucky in the second set to get back, to be quite honest. I played a solid tie-break.
“I had chances early on in the third set I think to make something happen. He kind of recovered, then started to serve a bit better again towards the end of the third set, which made it difficult for me. It’s a bit of an up and down performance for me.”
