Indian Wells, California – Like a tremendous French wine – suppose Burgundy or Bordeaux – magical, legendary, monumental Gael Monfils appears to get higher with age. On Saturday evening at Indian Wells he decanted his brilliance in opposition to Sebastian Korda and carved out a slice of Masters 1000 historical past.
38-year-old Monfils edged Korda 7-6(2), 7-6(4) to change into the third-oldest participant to ever attain the third spherical at a Masters 1000 occasion.
Monfils was higher within the massive moments, and sensible all through as he took out the Twenty fourth-seeded American and set a third-round conflict with 14th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.
A two-time quarterfinalist at Indian Wells, Monfils is certainly one of simply 5 energetic gamers to personal 20 or extra wins on the occasion. He improves to 22-14 lifetime within the California desert together with his win, and 11-3 on the season. Earlier this yr in Auckland, Monfils grew to become the oldest participant to ever win an ATP title when he defeated Zizou Bergs within the closing.
Magic Monfils 🌟The second @Gael_Monfils arrange the blockbuster conflict with Dimitrov as he beats Sebastian Korda 7-6 7-6 🎉#TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/K3B8sDCr86
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 9, 2025
Solely then-39-year-old Jimmy Connors, at Miami in 1992, and then-40-year-old Ivo Karlovic, at Indian Wells in 2019, have reached the third spherical at a Masters 1000 occasion at a extra superior age.
