Breaking News: Carlos Alcaraz takes his revenge on Monfils and narrows the gap with Sinner in the Shanghai blockbuster

Carlos Alcaraz got the revenge that he likely really wanted, beating Gael Monfils in the fourth round of the 2024 Shanghai Masters.

The Frenchman might not be as active on the ATP Tour as he once was or winning as many matches, but every now and then, even at 38 years of age, he’s still able to produce magic on the tennis court.

That has been the case this year in Cincinnati, when Monfils beat Alcaraz in three sets, even though the young Spaniard later said that it was the worst match of his tennis career.

Now, they were set to meet at yet another ATP Masters 1000 tournament, this time in Shanghai. The stage was set for their fourth-round match, but Monfils kept it very humble ahead of the meeting.

Knowing that Alcaraz’s level wasn’t the best when they met the last time, the French player predicted that he would be crushed by his opponent in Shanghai, once again describing the 21-year-old as a legend.

Although Monfils was right in that he would lose the match, he wasn’t right about being crushed because the 38-year-old was able to bring a really solid level to the court to provide enough resistance for his opponent.

Both players held their serve relatively easily in the first set of the match, and it was actually Monfils who had the first break point in the match in the sixth game, leading 3-2 and 40-30 on his opponent’s serve.

The experienced Frenchman couldn’t use that chance and it would later come to haunt him as only a few games later, his opponent created not one, but two chances to break Monfils’ serve

The French player saved the first one, but Alcaraz used the second one to break and later served out the opening set, which he won 6-4 to establish a one-set lead in the match.

In the second set, Monfils was once again able to play at a very high level, but once again, it wasn’t enough to steal the set from the four-time Grand Slam champion, who has been on a level above everyone else in recent weeks.