2009 SHANGHAI MASTERS

2nd Round

                LLEYTON HEWITT    v    GAEL  MONFILS                    

 4-6 6-4 6-2 

Lleyton Hewitt continues to bolster his ranking in the hopes of making a big run at the 2010 Australian Open. 

After returning from off-season hip surgery, he has fought to raise his ranking from #105 to #23 which should help his draw at the majors next year.

This was a match Lleyton wanted to win badly since Monfils is now coached by Hewitt's former mentor, Roger Rasheed.

In this match, Hewitt came on strong and both players were willing to grind for many 30+ shot rallies.  Monfils has a bad habit of relying on his speed too much.

Gael's defensive play let Hewitt win a lot of the longer points by coming into net off of weak replies by the Frenchman. 

But something clicked in Monfils late in the 2nd set and he became a totally different player.

He began to  put a lot more effort into his shots and began to control the points with some huge forehands. 

Monfils won 11 out of 12 points to take the set in a period of very inspired play. 

The flamboyent and extremely athletic Monfils suffered a bit of a letdown in the 3rd set before returning to form to close out the last6 games of the match. 

Hewitt played well during the match and had his chances for victory, but really let this one get away. 

USA ORDERS:

NON-USA ORDERS: