Monfils heading for early exit but finds way to win

Hugely popular French star Gael Monfils came from the jaws of defeat to storm into the second round at the ASB Classic in Auckland yesterday.

Monfils lost the first set to Spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-1 and was down 5-2 in the second set before staging a remarkable comeback at the Manuka Doctor Arena.

With equal measures of deft touches and pure power, the former world No6 won the second set in a tiebreak after trailing 5-4.

He pushed to a 5-2 lead in the deciding set and withheld a late push to the Spanish player to claim the win 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

“I tried to stay in the moment and play ugly but I felt much better in the second set. Then tried to put two or three balls of quality together and I did and he missed two or three points and I got there.

“After 20 years I know these types of matches. I won it and you know last year I didn’t, so I am happy with that."

It proved a disappointing return for Auckland-raised British player Cameron Norrie who has his heart set on winning the ASB Classic, the event that first sparked his passion for the game.

Making his return to competition after his first significant injury break in 2024, Norrie was unable to cope with the efforts of lucky loser Facundo Diaz Acosta, of Argentina, losing 6-2, 6-3.

He had his chances and was clearly frustrated with the number of unforced errors, and incurred a code violation.

“I was missing a lot and feeling completely dead. I was disappointed with my attitude and I was not feeling the ball at all," Norrie said.

“Throwing my racket around was not like me at all. I was feeling pretty good in preseason last week in Hong Kong and couldn’t play any better.

"I feel like I let the fans down as it would have been nice to go deep and play some more matches here but this happens."

Italian sixth seed Flavio Cobolli retired early in the second set against qualifier and compatriot Luca Nardo who prevailed 6-1, 2-1 when the match was called.

Italian Lorenzo Sonego fought through two tiebreak set wins to edge Canadian wild card Gabriel Diallo 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 in a few minutes shy of three hours.

It proved to be an even longer slug-fest on court two on which Argentine Mariano Navone beat lucky loser Adrian Mannarino, of France, 7-6, 6-7, 6-1 in 3hr 8min, which was the second-longest match in Auckland since the ATP Tour began records in 1991.

In other games, German Jan-Lennard Struff beat Yunchaokete Bu, of China, 6-3, 6-4, American qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy defeated Argentine Francisco Comesana 6-2, 6-2 and Czech Jakub Mensik downed Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. — APL