By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, October 7, 2016
Nick Kyrgios crunched 18 aces and did not drop serve sweeping Gilles Muller to set up a Tokyo semifinal shoot-out with second-seeded Gael Monfils.
Photo credit: Getty
Friends and fellow NBA fans Nick Kyrgios and Gael Monfils have faced-off in one-on-one basketball games.
The high-flying pair will square off on the tennis court trying to land a spot in the Tokyo final.
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In a rematch of the Washington, DC final, Monfils matched Ivo Karlovic with nine aces squeezing out a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6) quarterfinal decision. Monfils saved a match point edging the towering Croatian, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-4, to win the biggest title of his career in DC last August.
Monfils showed some creative guile playing over the giant's head.
Commanding on serve, Kyrgios crunched 18 aces, won 31 of 35 first-serve points and denied all three break points he faced in a 6-4, 6-2 dismantling of Gilles Muller.
The sixth-seeded Australian set the tone at the start breaking in the opening game of the match. Kyrgios burst out to a 5-1 second-set lead before closing in 70 minutes.
Kyrgios tuned up the crowd with a trick-shot exchange.
The 36th-ranked Muller had not dropped serve in tournament wins over third-seeded Tomas Berdych and former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis. But Kyrgios attacked Muller's second serve, converted three of 12 break points and exploited nine double faults in an impressive performance.
“I thought I played great today,” said Kyrgios, who has needed to win just four sets in reaching his sixth semifinal of the season. “I served well, returned well and my engagement level was really good the whole time.”
Aiming for his third final of the season, Kyrgios will meet Monfils for the second time. The elastic Frenchman was a 7-5, 6-4 victor in their lone prior meeting at the 2014 Davis Cup on clay.
That Davis Cup weekend also gave us this shootout.
No. 5-seeded David Goffin won just five points on serve in a horrid start, but shook it off rallying past Joao Sousa, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. Goffin converted four of 12 break-point chances in advancing to his fourth semifinal of the season.
Goffin will play 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic with a spot in the final on the line.
The fourth-seeded Croatian overpowered Juan Monaco, 7-5, 6-1.
In a clash of top 15-ranked players, Goffin has held the upper hand winning both of his prior meetings with Cilic. Goffin won their most recent encounter, 7-6 (4), 6-2, in the Indian Wells quarterfinals last March.