Damien Kayat previews Gael Monfils vs Adrian Mannarino and Laslo Djere vs Tomas Machac in selected Quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open on the 20th of October 2023.
2023 ATP Tour
ATP 250
BMP Paribas Open – Stockholm Open
Kungliga tennishallen, Stockholm, Sweden (Indoor Hardcourt)
Selected Quarterfinals – 20th October
Gael Monfils 86/100 | Adrian Mannarino 91/100
This has the potential to be a truly epic all-Gallic quarterfinal. The ever-mercurial Gael Monfils created a little slice of history with his round of 16 win against Filip Misolic, claiming his 356th hardcourt victory to surpass Richard Gasquet as the most successful Frenchman on hardcourts.
The 37-year-old has struggled with fitness this season but he has looked decent when he has been fit. This was highlighted by an excellent quarterfinal run at the Canadian Masters. He is an indoor hardcourt specialist, picking up seven of his eleven career titles on these surfaces (not to mention a further nine finals).
And he needed to call on every ounce of that indoor knowledge in a herculean first-round victory against Marton Fucsovics. But he looked far more assured against Misolic, dictating the pace and winning an incredible 89% of his first-serve points (including a staggering 11 aces).
That victory demonstrated Monfils’ more aggressive side and he looks ultra-determined to reach his first semi-final in well over a year.
Adrian Mannarino has been one of the surprise packages of the ATP Tour this season. The veteran 35-year-old has always been a quirky competitor, utilizing slice and guile in a slightly old-fashioned manner.
Few could have foreseen him breaking into the top 25 for the first time in his career at the age of 35. His season has been built on consistency (this will be his 9th quarterfinal of the campaign). He showed signs of his best form with a 4th round run at the Miami Open.
But it wasn’t until the 2nd half of the season that he really started to shine. He won titles in Newport and at the recent Astana Open (which happened to be played on indoor hardcourts). And he also managed to reach his 2nd career Masters quarterfinal in Cincinnati.
He just overcame an in-form Roman Safiullin and he looks determined to eek out every bit of good quality tennis that he has left in his body. He is going to need to overcome a significant head-to-head disadvantage against his more decorated compatriot.
Verdict: Mannarino to win in three at 7/2
Monfils leads Mannarino 4-2 in their head-to-head meetings. Monfils has won their last three matches- you have to go all the way back to 2018 to find a Mannarino win.
But Mannarino is currently playing the best tennis of his career and this is going to be a tough one to call. Monfils will hope to dominate on serve again and use his bruising groundstrokes to penetrate the court.
Mannarino will look to counterpunch and move Monfils to every corner of the court (testing Monfils’ 37-year-old physique to the limit). I just think Mannarino is in total control of his game at present and he will find a way to win
Laslo Djere 11/10 | Tomas Machac 71/100
28-year-old Serb Lazlo Djere has generally played his best tennis on clay. Four of his five career finals have come on the sticky stuff (including a brilliant run to this year’s ATP 500 event in Hamburg).
But the Serb has actually performed admirably on all surfaces this season to stay firmly entrenched in the world’s top 40. He reached the semi-final of the Austrian Open (also on clay). But he also reached the 3RD Round in back-to-back slams (Wimbledon and the US Open).
He incredibly led eventual champ Djokovic by two sets in their US Open 3rd round match. His quarterfinal run at the Winston-Salem Open further demonstrated his ability on hard surfaces. And he really seems to have found his rhythm on these Stockholm surfaces.
He easily beat local favourite Borg in his opener before an outstanding straight-sets win against big-serving American J.J. Wolff.
23-year-old Czech Tomas Machac is finally starting to realize his undeniable potential. He took everybody by surprise with a spirted display against Novak Djokovic earlier this season, taking the Serb to three sets in their epic Dubai clash.
The Czech peppered Djokovic with exceptional backhands and came to the net expertly throughout. Machac went on to reach his maiden tour-level quarterfinal in Houston and he comes into this tournament in incredible lower-tier form, reaching three consecutive Challenger finals over the last month.
In fact, he came into this tournament with a 10-match winning streak. That was actually broken during qualifying but he did make the main draw as a lucky loser. There he picked up arguably the biggest win of his career with a straight-sets dismantling of three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. Machac likes to destabilize his opponents, taking the ball early and daring to approach the net.
Verdict: Djere to win in straight-sets at 49/20
This will be the first career meeting between these two. Machac makes for an enticing underdog given his recent form. But I think the Serb is playing really complete tennis. The work he has done on improving his serve should see him through against a potentially exhausted Machac. Djere has gone toe-to-toe with the best this season and I think he should have too much for the erratic Czech.
