In 2004, Gael Monfils burst into the tennis scene after winning Junior titles at the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon Championship. Though the French star has yet to prove his talent on the big stage, with 11 ATP titles after 19 years he remains the 8th most active player in men’s tennis history behind Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka. Defeating Marton Fucsovics in the Round of 32 of the Stockholm Open, Monfils earned his 535th career win.
Meanwhile, Miomir Kecmavic earned his first Top 10 win of the season after upsetting the defending Stockholm champion Hulger Rune to reach the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open.
Gael Monfils shows strong performance at Stockholm Open 2023
Gael Monfils rallied after losing the first set to beat Marton Fucsovics 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the Round of 32 at the Stockholm Open. The French star had the support of his mother and his wife, Elina Svitolina, who were in the stands, as Monfils hit 27 winners in the victory and closed out the result with a break in the final game.
Gael Monfils after beating Fucsovics in Stockholm, said, “I spent a fun 10 days with my family, My wife and daughter. It’s very cold here. My daughter got sick the first day. It’s been ten days now, I feel like a local. I feel great. I move good. Now I need to execute in the matches & believe. Hopefully I give you great matches this week.”
“I was very happy. Marton is a very good player, always a tricky opponent. [I had to] just believe that I’m going to win and try to stay positive, play my game. Obviously I was running quite good and hitting big balls. It was a little bit of a struggle at the beginning to impose my power and then I felt I was doing it pretty good,” Geal Monfil added.
Gael Monfil’s win over Marton Fucsovics in Stockholm was his 535th career win making Monfils the 8th most among active men’s tennis players in history. Gael Monfils will play against Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic for a place in the quarter-finals.
Miomir Kecmanovic upset Holger Rune to reach quarterfinals
Miomir Kecmanovic defeated the defending Stockholm champion Hulger Rune, in a stunning upset. The Serbian knocked off top seed Rune 7-6(3), 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open. This was Kecmanovic’s first win of the season against a Top 10. He earned his first win last season in Miami with a dominant display against Holger Rune at the BNP Paribas Nordic Open.
“I thought I played pretty well today after a long period this year,” said Kecmanovic, who was 0-5 against the Top 10 this season before the win. “I’m very happy. It means a lot to finally be able to play like this. It makes it special [to beat the World No. 6]. I was close with some other [top] guys this year but I’m happy that I was finally able to do it.”, he said.
Miomir Kecmanovic ended an 11-match losing streak against Top 10 opposition which improved his win to 4-17 against players in that status in his career. Before Kecmanovic defeated Rune, his most recent Top 10 win was against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the 2022 Maimi Open.
Hunger Rune has been in poor form since the Asian swing, exiting in the first round of the Rolex Shanghai Masters which was a blow to his bid to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. Rune currently sits in eighth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and may likely not be in the final qualifying spots if Taylor Fritz wins the title in Tokyo.
