By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, October 20, 2016
Gastao Elias swept top-seeded Gael Monfils, 7-6 (4), 6-1, while Juan Martin del Potro dispatched Nicolas Almagro to reach the Stockholm Open quarterfinals.
Photo credit: If Stockholm Open
A feast of finesse shots set the table for Gael Monfils' Stockholm opener against Gastao Elias.
By the time the 61st-ranked Elias was done dishing out line-flavored drives and a second-set bread stick, Monfils was left to digest a surprising loss.
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Elias entered the match with an unimposing 2-6 hard-court record on the season and exited with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 upset of the top-seeded Monfils.
Empowered by a 23-5 record in his last 28 matches, Monfils took the court ranked a career-high No. 7.
In the first meeting between the pair, the US Open semifinalist could not crack the code against the Elias serve, failing to convert any of his four break points.
Following a confident tie break, Elias broke twice in a row for a 4-0 second-set lead. He gained his first two match points in the sixth game.
Monfils buried a forehand down the line to deny the first match point, but followed with a netted double fault. Moving forward, the Frenchman blocked a backhand volley winner to save the second match point.
The top seed fended off the bagel holding for 1-5.
Elias double faulted away his third match point and left a drop volley dangling in the service box as Monfils swatted a forehand pass to save a fourth match point.
On match point number five, Elias launched a wide serve to stretch the elastic Frenchman on the ad side then zapped a forehand winner down the line to end a 79-minute conquest with an exuberant celebration. Elias has not dropped serve in the tournament.
In the quarterfinals, Elias will take on either sixth-seeded Jack Sock or Dustin Brown.
Wild card Juan Martin del Potro did not face a break point powering past Nicolas Almagro, 6-4, 6-3.
It was del Potro's third win over Almagro in as many meetings and his 25th victory of the season. The 2009 US Open champion, who took down seventh-seeded John Isner in his opener, faces another tower of power in the form of 6'11" Ivo Karlovic next.
Del Potro has won three of four prior meetings with Karlovic; their quarterfinal clash will be their first meeting in more than four years.
Kevin Anderson made one service break stand up, slipping past Ryan Harrison, 7-6 (8), 6-4, into his sixth quarterfinal of the season. The 48th-ranked South African has lost all five quarterfinals he's contested this season.
Anderson aims for his first semifinal since he won Winston-Salem in August of 2015. He will play 2013 champion Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Bulgarian breezed by qualifier Jurgen Zopp, 6-3, 6-2, to surge into the Stockholm quarterfinals for the fifth straight year.
Dimitrov, who was runner-up to Andy Murray in Beijing earlier this month, is playing for a spot in his seventh semifinal of the season. Dimitrov, who has reached at least the quarterfinals in four of his last six tournaments, has won five of six meetings with Anderson.
Seven of the 18 sets the pair have played have been tie breaks, including Dimitrov prevailing in decisive-set tie breaks in the 2014 Cincinnati quarterfinals and 2014 Acapulco final.
"I don't believe in these things keeping scores and all of that," Dimitrov said of his head-to-head edge. "I was 7-0 (down) against Rafa and I beat him. I think assumptions like that should never come across.
"(Anderson is) an extremely good player. He serves unbelievable. ... But I'm pretty focused right now and only on myself. So whatever he brings he brings and I'm going to offer whatever I have to offer."