Gael Monfils advanced to his first ATP Tour final on Australian Open with a 7-5 6-0 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Adelaide International 1.
The turning point came at 0-30 on Monfils’ serve at 5-5, when Kokkinakis hit a forehand wide to face three set points. Monfils earned his first break on his second chance in the 12th game to win the first set 7-5 with a forehand.
Monfils won eight consecutve games from 5-5 with two consecutive breaks.
The French player hit a cross-court backhand backhand pass winner to open up a 4-0 lead before a hard-fought 10-minute 12th game at 5-0 lead. Monfils converted his third break point at deuce to take a bagel win. The Frenchman fired 7 aces and dropped just 5 of his first service games. The Frenchman has not dropped a set en route to the final.
Monfils has reached an ATP Tour final for the 18th consecutive year.
“The last two years I didn’t win tournaments, so for me to make it to another final, it’s very important. Obviously, I will fight like a dog tomorrow, and let’s see what happens”, said Monfils.
Kokkinakis, who is now ranked 171, beat John Millman, Frances Tiafoe and Mikael Ymer this week en route to his first ATP semifinal since 2017.
Monfils set up a final match against 2021 Olympic silver medallist Karen Khachanov, who broke a two-match losing streak in his third head-to-head match against Marin Cilic with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 after 1 hour and 54 minutes. Cilic beat Khachanov en route to his St- Petersburg Open title last autumn. The first set went on serve until the 12th game en route to the tie-break. Khachanov earned two mini-break to open up a 4-1 lead. Cilic clawed his way bck to 2-4, but Khachanov earned his third mini-break to close out the tie-break 7-3. The Russian player earned a break in the fourth game to close out the second set 6-3.
