Gael Monfils battled past Jaume Munar 7-5 5-7 7-6 (7-1) after 2 hours and 37 minutes in front of a Butch Buchholz Court at the Miami Open to claim his third consecutive third-set win at the Miami Open.
Monfils has become the oldest man to reach the Round of 16 at the Miami Open.
Munar earned his first break in the fourth game of the first set to take a 3-1 lead. Monfils broke straight back in the fifth game and held serve at 15 in the next game to draw level to 3-3. Monfils closed out the first set 7-5 with a break on his second set point in the 12th game.
Monfils saved a break point in the first game of the second set. Munar broke serve in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead and served out the set 7-5 in the 12th game with a hold at 15. Munar broke in the 11th game of the third set to take a 6-5 lead. Munar served for the match in the 12th game but Monfils broke straight back to draw level to 6-6.
Monfils earned three mini-breaks to win the decisive tie-break 7-1.
Monfils won 11 of the final 12 points.
The Frenchman set up a Round of 16 match against Sebastian Korda.
“I’ve played so many matches and I know it’s not easy to close out matches with a big atmosphere. If you win the first point, it’s key. I was fortunate enough to return down the line and come down to the net and I caught him. I knew at that moment, that point can be a game changer and it was. Crowd getting involved and then it’s pure experience and pure joy from my side as well”, said Monfils.
