Tennis, Monfils Eases Into Indian Wells Second Round

Indian Wells, United States, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Mar, 2018 ) :Unseeded Gael Monfils rolled to an easy 6-3, 6-3 victory over Aussie Matthew Ebden in his opening match at the ATP Indian Wells tournament on Friday.

The 31-year-old Frenchman needed just 71 minutes to dispatch Ebden in front of a crowd of about 3,000 on the stadium court. Monfils began 2018 by claiming his seventh career ATP Title in Doha, but this is the first time he has come into Indian Wells unseeded in the men's draw since 2008.

Monfils hammered six aces, won 68 percent of his first serve points and broke Ebden four times. Monfils improved to 2-0 lifetime over Ebden having beaten him previously at the 2010 Australian Open.

Monfils will face world No. 18 John Isner in the second round. The Frenchman has beaten Isner five times in nine career meetings, including winning four of their past five. Their most recent encounter took place a year ago in the California desert, with Monfils winning easily 6-2, 6-4 to reach the third round.

Indian Wells marks the first time playing on hard courts for Monfils since the Australian Open in January.

He is coming off four straight weeks on the South American clay court circuit so needed to make the necessary adjustments.

"The ball was flying quite a lot. It was not easy to adapt but today I was just lucky to get the win and in straight sets is always good. I will be focused for the next one," Monfils said. Ebden committed five double faults and won just 39 percent of his second serve points on Friday.

He is playing in the Indian Wells main draw for the first time since 2014. Elsewhere, wild card Ernesto Escobedo surprised fellow young gun Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 6-3 in the first career meeting between the two Americans.

The 20-year-old Tiafoe, who is ranked 64th in the world, was fresh off his first career title at Delray Beach on February 25. Escobedo, 21, is making his Indian Wells debut. In other men's matches on Friday, Portugal's Joao Sousa rallied to beat Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) and qualifier Marcos Baghdatis defeated Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 3-6, 7-5