Stade Pierre Mauroy, Lille, France (Indoor, Clay)
Gael Monfils held his nerve on Friday to record one of the biggest wins of his career and get nine-time former champion France back on level terms at 1-1 against Switzerland in the Davis Cup final.
Monfils was at his aggressive best to beat World No. 2 Roger Federer of Switzerland for the first time in 14 months, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, in the second singles rubber of the tie.
Earlier in the day, Stan Wawrinka beat France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to give Switzerland a 1-0 lead.
"That definitely [is] one of the top three matches in my life," Monfils said. "To be honest, I was very nervous in the beginning. For sure when Jo lost, it's extra pressure because we need to get back on the road to win the title.
"Then, I think I like that atmosphere, the big court. The crowd was very good. They helped me a lot, gave me a lot of energy. At the end [it] helped me a lot because I went for my shots, which made me serve big [and hit] big forehands."
There was to be no repeat of September’s US Open quarter-final, when Federer bounced back from losing the first two sets to defeat Monfils 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.
Federer, who had won 18 of his past 19 matches since the US Open, was largely powerless against Monfils, who hit 44 winners, including 10 aces for his 36th match win of the season. The pair’s 11th meeting lasted one hour and 46 minutes and it was Monfils’ first victory over Federer since the 2013 Shanghai Rolex Masters.
France's captain Arnaud Clement has selected Julien Benneateau and Richard Gasquet for Saturday's doubles rubber against Swiss Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer. But Clement and Switzerland's captain Severin Luthi could ring the changes for what would be the pivotol match.
"I'll definitely make myself available if I feel that I can play proper tennis," said Federer. "I started to feel better as the match went on. That's very encouraging, I must say. I would think that I'm going to get better as the weekend goes on. I hope I’ll be fine tonight and tomorrow morning to give maximum possibilities for Severin and back up Stan and the rest of the team."
The 28-year-old Monfils was rock solid on serve – winning 17 of his 17 first service points in the first set, 16 of his 16 second service points in the second set and 11 of his 12 first service points in the third set. The Frenchman denied Federer two break points en route to recording his 10th Davis Cup match win in 12 singles rubbers.
Federer, who has an ATP World Tour-best 72-12 match record on the season including a 5-6 record in finals, committed 29 unforced errors in the end. He is now 37-8 in singles ties for Switzerland, having suffered his first singles defeat in the competition since losing to American John Isner in February 2012.
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