{"id":95178,"date":"2026-04-05T19:47:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T17:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montecarlotennismasters.com\/?p=95178"},"modified":"2026-04-05T21:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T19:34:12","slug":"monfils-extends-stay-with-fighting-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montecarlotennismasters.com\/en\/monfils-extends-stay-with-fighting-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Monfils Extends Farewell; Kouame Exits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gael Monfils seems intent on making his final appearance at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters count.<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old Frenchman, playing in the Principality for the last time, rallied from a set down to defeat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-4 to extend his stay in Monaco.<\/p>\n<p>Capitalising on 29 forehand errors and 11 double faults from his opponent, Monfils advanced to a second-round meeting with eighth seed Alexander Bublik, whom he has beaten twice in three career meetings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s never easy the first match on clay,\u201d said the 2016 finalist. \u201cI haven\u2019t played since Indian Wells but in the end I found my rhythm. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long ride since my first match here in 2005. I\u2019m just pleased to win one more match.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tuDJe-G_XCM?si=66tXQT_NSbWoCT63\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>With the victory, Monfils broke a tie with Richard Gasquet and now has won more ATP Masters 1000 matches (145) than any other Frenchman. He also became the second-oldest Masters 1000 match winner behind Ivo Karlovic, who reached the Indian Wells fourth round as a 40-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>Ugo Humbert got the better of his 17-year-old countryman Moise Kouame in a match played under lights on court Rainier III. The left-handed Frenchman failed to serve out the match at his first opportunity in the second set but soon after closed out the contest 6-3, 7-5 after saving seven of 10 break points he faced in the match.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m super happy that I&#8217;ve won my first match [of the season] on clay,&#8221; Humbert said. &#8220;He&#8217;s really young but he has a good future. He looks a little bit like Gael Monfils. He has a big serve and moves very well.<\/p>\n<p>Next up Humbert faces World No. 2 Jannik Sinner. &#8220;I really love to play these kind of matches to see where I am on the court. It will be a nice atmosphere between the Italians and the French. I&#8217;m super excited for this match.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the day Cameron Norrie steadied to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(0) after failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d98yJ8urbxk?si=PI8uYYM-vtZ8XeGf\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frenchman becomes second-oldest to win Masters 1000 match<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classifiee-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Monfils Extends Farewell; 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