Gael Monfils dethroned defending champion Ivan Ljubicic to lift the Open Sud de France trophy on Sunday afternoon.
Frenchman claims third career title in Montpellier
Gael Monfils dethroned defending champion Ivan Ljubicic to lift the Open Sud de France trophy on Sunday afternoon.
Monfils, seeded third for the event, fired down 11 aces and made the most of Ljubicic's 39 unforced errors to claim a 6-2 5-7 6-1 victory in his homeland.
The win is the charismatic Frenchman's third career title and his first since winning in Metz in 2009.
The fourth-seeded Ljubicic, who triumphed last year when the tournament was held in Lyon, struggled with his first serve and was broken five times during the match.
Monfils made a nervous start and had to save an early break point with a forehand passing shot after double-faulting twice.
Classy
The Frenchman then broke Ljubicic in the fourth game with two consecutive winners down the line and closed out the set with his second break.
Monfils looked poised for a routine win when he broke again for a 3-1 lead in the second set, but two return winners from Ljubicic in the next game saw him break back immediately.
Another break gave Ljubicic a 6-5 lead and the veteran Croat took the match into a deciding set with an ace.
Monfils recovered quickly, though, and fired a classy backhand down the line to break for a 2-0 lead at the start of the third.
Ljubicic was broken again in the fourth game and Monfils closed out the match with an ace on his first match point.
"I played well today and I managed to stay in the match after losing my temper during the second set," Monfils said.
"Hopefully this will be the beginning of something, I have to realize that I'm able to play good tennis. But I don't want to be carried away with this victory because the coming weeks will be very hard mentally."
