Monfils teaches Fedex a lesson at Paris Masters

Nov 15, 2010 |

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Paris, Nov. 14: Gael Monfils stunned top seed Roger Federer 7-6 (9/7), 6-7 (1/7), 7-6 (7/4) to reach the ATP Paris Masters final on Saturday, after Robin Soderling had edged Michael Llodra in an equally epic tie.

Monfils, the French 12th seed, fought back from 4-1 down in the third set to reach the final at the Bercy arena for the second year in succession, following his defeat by Djokovic last year.

The Frenchman will bid to win his first Masters title against fourth seed Soderling, who is also yet to win a Masters event, after the Swede ended unseeded Llodra's fairytale run with a 6-7 (0/7), 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) victory.

Monfils had lost all five of his previous meetings with world number two Federer, but he took a well contested first set when the Swiss superstar netted a forehand at 7-8 down in the tie-break.

The second set was every bit as tight as the first, but Federer managed to level the match after sweeping his way imperiously through the tie-break.

The game appeared up for Monfils in the third set as he fell 4-1 down, but the world number 14, roared on by a typically boisterous Bercy crowd, dug deep to see off five match points and scrap his way into the final.

“I went to the limits of myself,” said a jubilant Monfils. “I feel better and better as the tournament goes on. I ran out of juice a little bit at the start of the third set but the fans were there, they pushed me and I kept believing,” he said.

Federer, who is still to reach a Paris Masters final, was guilty of several uncharacteristic errors and must now steel himself for an assault on the year-end ATP World Tour Finals in London.

“There were two pretty extrordinary matches today,” said Federer.

“Of course it hurts. On one of the match points I had the whole court open and I couldn’t put it in, a bit like Llodra in his match. We could have had a Llodra-Federer final and it turned into a Monfils-Soderling final. What’s disappointing is that I was in control of the situation with a break up in the third set,” Federer added.

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