Gaël Monfils will face the surprising Czech Jakub Mensik for a place in the final of the Doha tournament after easily dominating Ugo Humbert (6-2, 6-4), in a French duel on Thursday in the quarter-finals. The Parisian (68th in the world) will have to be wary of the young Czech, who defeated the number 1 seed of this ATP 250, the Russian Andrey Rublev, in two sets 6-4, 7-6 (8/6).
While he was in difficulty since the start of the season (only two matches won during his first four tournaments), Monfils confirmed his progress against the French number 1 (18th in the world). Solid in service (8 aces) and aggressive in the game (22 winning points), he gave Humbert, winner of the Marseille tournament at the beginning of the month, no chance. He warned that he intended to use “experience” in the semi-final against an opponent who is not half his age (37 years old against 18).
In this tournament which has often been successful for him (a title in 2018 and three finals in 2006, 2012 and 2013), the former world number 6 will try to qualify for the 35th final of his career (12 titles), the last, won , dating from October in Stockholm. The young Mensik, 18 years old and 116th in the world, recipient of an invitation, continued his “incredible week” by beating Rublev after dominating the Scot Andy Murray in the previous round. The other semi-final will pit Russian Karen Khachanov (17th in the world) against Australian Alexei Popyrin (46th).