TheSportsCampus

In another good day for the host nation, Gael Monfils and Nicolas Mahut triumphed in their respective Round 2 duels to join fellow countrymen Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet and Guillaume Ruffin in the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France at Montpellier. Also booking their designated last eight slots were top seed Tomas Berdych, a runaway winner over qualifier Florent Serra, and eighth seed Jarkko Nieminen who beat the former world No.12 Paul-Henri Mathieu.

In the first singles match on Court Central, the unseeded world no. 78 Nicolas Mahut upset sixth seeded German Florian Mayer 7-6, 6-3 in an hour and 22 minutes. The German, ranked 21 in the world, was playing in his first tournament of the year after having pulled out from the Australian Open due to a hip strain and had defeated Luxembourg's Gilles Muller in two tough sets in Round 1 of the event. On the other hand, Mahut had entered his home event on the back of a creditable performance at the Australian Open where he had lost to the eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the third round. He had booked a place in Round 2 here with a routine 6-3, 6-2 win against Spain's Albert Ramos.

The first set was a closely contested affair with both players trading a service break and not willing to give an inch. Eventually though, it was the Frenchman's better match preparation which made the difference especially on the crucial points as he took the set 7-3 in the breaker. The second set, in contrast, was easy pickings for Mahut as he broke Mayer's serve twice and ultimately, wrapped up the set and the match to book a place in the quarter-finals against No.1 seed Tomas Berdych.

The World No.7 Czech, playing in his first match since his Australian Open quarter-final loss to Rafael Nadal, steamrolled the 30 year old French qualifier Florent Serra 6-0, 6-2 in less than an hour. In one of their 3 previous meetings, Serra had beaten Berdych on clay in 2006 but with the talented Berdych winning 83 percent of his first serve points, it was quite clear that there was going to be no such aberration this time.

In another second round clash, the 2010 Champion and No.3 seed Gael Monfils overcame the recently graduated 33 year old American Michael Russell in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. The 110th ranked American had taken a set off the world no.13 in each of their two previous encounters and was expected to put up much more of a fight. However, Monfils' serve was firing on all cylinders as he produced 17 aces and didn't face even a single breakpoint. The 25 year old Frenchman broke the American's serve twice in set one and though Russell showed tremendous gumption in the second set saving 6 out of 7 breakpoints, the solitary break was enough for Monfils' to close out the match in an hour and 17 minutes.

Monfils' next opponent will be the Sydney champion and No. 8 seed Jarkko Nieminen. In the battle of the two former top 20 competitors, it was the Finn who beat out Mathieu, 7-6, 6-1 with an imposing first serve percentage of 77 percent.

Round 2 Scores:

(1) T Berdych d. F Serra 60 62
(3) G Monfils d. M Russell 63 63
N Mahut d. (6) F Mayer 76(3) 63
(8) J.Nieminen d. P. Mathieu 76(4) 61