Monfils powers through to semis

07 September 2016 - 10:02 By Reuters

Gael Monfils overwhelmed worn-out fellow-Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-4 6-3 6-3 to become the first man into the semifinals of the US Open yesterday.Tenth seed Monfils was his energetic, athletic self and invincible from the service line in a commanding win over Pouille, 22, who was coming off three successive five-set wins including a fourth-round upset of 14-times slam winner Rafa Nadal.Monfils, 30, finished off 24th seed Pouille with his 13th ace to lead off a huge day for the French, who placed three players in the quarterfinals of a grand slam for the first time since the 1947 French Open.Monfils, who reached his second career grand slam semifinal and first since 2008 in Roland Garros, will meet either top seed Novak Djokovic or ninth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the third Frenchman in the last eight at Flushing Meadows.In the women's singles, second seed Angelique Kerber was first through to the semifinals yesterday, bringing Roberta Vinci's Flushing Meadows dream run to an end with a clinical 7-5 6-0 win.The match had looked an intriguing one between Kerber, who is eyeing Serena Williams's world No 1 ranking, and the 33-year-old Italian, Vinci, who discovered a fountain of youth at Flushing Meadows last year where she reached the finals.But a foot fault in the opening set appeared to trip up Vinci and sent her tumbling out of the year's final grand slam.The Italian never recovered and Kerber blasted through the second set in 24 minutes to clinch her semifinal spot , in which she will face the winner between Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki and Latvian Anastasija Sevastova. ..

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