Frenchman Gael Monfils cruised through his compatriot Jo Wilfried Tsonga to a commanding 6-1 6-3 in the first all-French semifinal in the Monte-Carlo Country Club since 1946 setting up a final against Rafa Nadal at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Monfils went up a double break to open up a 3-0 lead in the first set. Tsonga got one of the two breaks back in the fourth game for 1-3 but Monfils broke two more times in the fifth game for 4-1 and in the seventh game to seal the first set 6-1. Monfils allowed Tsonga just seven return points.
Monfils went up a set a break in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. At 1-6 1-4 Tsonga broke back to love in the seventh game for 3-4 but Monfils got another break in the next game to pull away to 5-3 and served out for the win in 70 minutes.
Monfils and Tsonga met for the seventh time on the ATP Tour but for the first on clay. Tsonga now leads 5-2 in their head-to-head matches and won their previous match in the third round at the Masters 1000 tournament in Miami in 2015.
Monfils has got through to his third career Masters 1000 final after finishing runner-up twice in Paris Bercy to Novak Djokovic in 2009 and to Robin Soderling in 2011. Last year he reached the semifinals in Monte-Carlo.
Monfils will play his second final this year two months after finishing runner-up to Martin Klizan in Rotterdam. The Frenchman also reached the quarter finals at the Australian Open, at Indian Wells and Miami. He reached the final in Monte-Carlo without dropping a set in five matches. He will looking to become the first French player to win the Monte-Carlo final since Cedric Pioline in 2000.
Tsonga lost his second semifinal in Monte-Carlo in his career after losing to Rafa Nadal in 2013. The tennis player from Le Mans played his second semifinal of the year after Auckland last January.
