Indian Wells: too strong Monfils, Gianluca Mager falls in two sets

Two sets, a little more than an hour of play, and the adventure in Indian Wells ends for Gianluca Mager.

The Ligurian succumbs to the second round with the result of 6-4, 6-2 against a complex opponent such as Gael Monfils. The Frenchman, number 18 on the ATP circuit, prevails in a very fast first set that proceeds until the 10th game without a break. At this very point it is Mager who loses the decisive serve. Much more palpitating is the second set, with three consecutive breaks between the fourth and sixth games. The exchange rewards the transalpine, who takes a 4-2 lead and breaks his opponent for the concluding 6-2.

In 2020 Indian Wells was not played because of the pandemic. Novak Djokovic has won the California tournament five times, most recently in 2016. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, Roger Federer (who bent compatriot Stan Wawrinka in the last act), Juan Martin Del Potro, and Dominic Thiem triumphed, respectively. Both the Argentine and the Austrian in the final got the better of the very Swiss former world No. 1. As indeed happened to the Serbian champion in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, however, Nole got the better of the Canadian – but of Montenegrin origin – Milos Raonic.