Match report

Oscar Hernandez © Tennistalk.com
Grand Prix Hassan II
2nd round
5/21/08 1 2 Tot
es  Oscar Hernandez 6 6 2
fr  Gael Monfils 3 2 0
Gael Monfils © Tennistalk.com

  • Monfils Crashes Out

    5/22/08 12:34 AM | David Cox
    Gael Monfils slipped to a shock 6-3, 6-2 loss in round two of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, with Oscar Hernandez making his second quarterfinal in Morocco.

    Both men served well - first serve percentages well over 70 - but Monfils could only win 50% of the points when down to his weaker delivery. He only had two chances to break the Spaniard in the entire match, missing both and that proved costly. It means Monfils is short of matches at ATP level going into the French Open and replicating last year’s 3rd-round appearance could be beyond him.

    There were no such problems for compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who cruised into the last 8, brushing aside Algerian wild card Lamine Ouahab. Against an opponent ranked a lowly 330, Tsonga did not need to be at his best and he eased through, never in danger of getting broken especially when making 77% of his first serves.

    Santiago Ventura has plenty of fond memories from Casablanca, having won his first title there in 2004. He was forced to come from behind to make another quarterfinal, as Rainer Schuettler was completely dominant in set one but was eventually outlasted 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 with Ventura cutting down the errors.

    Fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau’s a handy player on clay having made the Roland Garros quarters two years ago. He’s not in that kind of form this year, but today he secured back-to-back wins on the clay for the first time this year with a fairly comfortable 6-4, 6-4 win over Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in just over an hour.

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