Gaël Monfils won his second victory of the season on Monday, at the expense of the American Bjorn Fratangelo (695th in the world), in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, during the first round of the ATP 500 tournament in Washington DC.
The 36-year-old Frenchman, who suffered from repeated injuries, had so far only won one match, in the first round of Roland-Garros, against Argentinian Sebastian Baez, in five sets. He immediately had to retire due to a left wrist injury.
Beaten on entering Atlanta a week ago by Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, the “Monf'” was finally able to raise their arms again on Monday, in the American federal capital.
Dropped to 323rd in the ATP, the former world number 6, who received an invitation, mastered the meeting by showing solid defense against a 30-year-old opponent whose best ranking dates back to 2016 (99th).
“It’s great to be back in Washington … I started strong and it’s another good match,” reacted the Frenchman.
Intractable on his serve, Gaël Monfils managed to take that of the American from the 4th game of the first set. He was even faster in the second set by winning the break at 1-1. He then raced in the lead until concluding on his face-off, after 1h11 of the match.
The game promises to be more difficult in the next round for Monfils, since he will be opposed to the Kazakh Alexander Bublik, 25th in the world.
In the meantime, he was able to celebrate his victory with his Ukrainian wife, Elina Svitolina, who also won in the first round in Washington, against Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
“It was a good evening for both of us and I hope the week will continue like this,” commented the Frenchman.
Among the other tricolors, Grégoire Barrère (59th) beat the Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki (200th) in three sets, 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 6-3. Corentin Moutet (80th) and Constant Lestienne (109th) however lost in straight sets, respectively to Briton Liam Broady (125th) and Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (55th).