(Vancouver) Twice, Frenchman Gaël Monfils went to Félix Auger-Aliassime’s side of the court to reproach him during their Laver Cup singles match on Friday evening. Twice, the Montreal tennis player ignored his opponent’s taunts.
Auger-Aliassime beat Monfils 6-4, 6-3 and Team World won the first three singles of the international tournament against Team Europe on Friday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
“At the end of the day, the goal is to move forward and win,” Auger-Aliassime said of the matchup. “I take every match seriously and I want to compete and win while having fun. »
A doubles victory for Americans Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe against Frenchman Arthur Fils and Russian Andrey Rublev, 6-3, 4-6, 10-6, then allowed Team World to complete a sweep of the first four matches
Four other duels are on the program for Saturday.
One of them will see Auger-Aliassime and Monfils do battle again, this time in doubles. Their partners will be the American Ben Shelton and the Pole Hubert Hurkacz, respectively. This will be the very last match of this second of three days of competition.
PHOTO DARRYL DYCK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ben Shelton
This is the first time in the history of this tournament that a Canadian city has hosted the Laver Cup.
Monfils puts on a show
On several occasions on Friday, Monfils tried to elicit reactions from the crowd. He was seen placing his hand behind one of his ears to better hear the cheers of spectators, sitting on billboards along the court and shrugging his shoulders when a decision did not go in his favor.
The Frenchman was heard telling European team captain Bjorn Borg on the microphone that he “was there to have fun” and appeared frustrated with the referee’s decisions throughout the match.
PHOTO DARRYL DYCK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Gaël Monfils
“It’s competition. Things got a little heated in the moment with tension,” Auger-Aliassime said when asked about his reaction.
The Canadian added that he was taking the competition seriously and downplayed his opponent’s actions, adding that he was focused on following the tournament rules.
“I think the Laver Cup has the potential to be taken very seriously, not only today, but also in the future,” remarked Auger-Aliassime.
“We take this seriously and things got heated for a few games. Gaël is someone I like, so there is no tension outside of what just happened. »
It was a rematch between Auger-Aliassime and Monfils after they clashed three years ago in Rotterdam. Monfils won in two sets, 6-2, 6-4, in the final of the tournament.
“He was the fastest player I had ever faced,” Auger-Aliassime noted before taking the court on Friday. “His defensive skill and court coverage was something I had never seen before. »
And Monfils made the Canadian work throughout the match on Friday. He multiplied the cross volleys to try to put Auger-Aliassime on his heels.
But the Montrealer thrived on serve, with an 85% win percentage on the first serve, followed by a 64% win percentage on the second serve.
He added to this a dominant net game, with 15 points to five for Monfils.
Auger-Aliassime’s victory allowed Team World to win three matches in a row on the first day of the Laver Cup for the first time ever.
Shelton and Francisco Cerundolo also won in singles action for Team World on Friday.
Shelton beat Son 7-6 (4), 6-1, in the tournament’s first matchup, and Cerundolo followed that up with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina.
It was the first time that Team World had won the opening match of the tournament.
Shelton won 84% of the first points on serve and made the only two breaks of the match, both in the second set.
“I thought it was a very good match, with a fairly high level from the start,” he analyzed.
Fils, a 19-year-old Frenchman making his Laver Cup debut, led 4-1 in the first-set tiebreaker before Shelton won the next six points, and the set.
“I think it was very important for me in the first set to stay with him until the end,” Shelton said.
“When you’re down at the start of a decisive break and you come back to tie, you feel like you have momentum. From there, at that point in the tiebreaker, I gained confidence and that carried over into the second set. »
The American continued his momentum in the second set, making the first break of the match to lead 3-1 and subsequently win.
In his match against Davidovich-Fokina, Cerundolo leaned on his serve with four aces.