NEW YORK — Frenchman Gael Monfils overwhelmed worn-out compatriot Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to become the first man into the semifinals of the U.S. Open on Tuesday.
Tenth seed Monfils was his dynamic self and invincible from the service line in a commanding win over 22-year-old Pouille, who was coming off three successive five-set wins including a fourth-round upset of 14-time grand slam winner Rafa Nadal.
Monfils finished 24th seed Pouille with his 13th ace to lead off a huge day for the French, who placed three men in the quarterfinals of a grand slam for the first time since the 1947 French Open.
“I’m happy with my performance. I think it is never easy to play quarter-final against a French guy, you know,” Monfils told reporters after the two-hour match. “I think I handled it pretty good mentally and tennistically.”
Monfils did not face a single break point in his demolition of Pouille, winning a daunting 85 percent of points on his first serve as he unleashed deliveries that topped out at 135 mph and registered 34 outright winners.
“Of course I was a bit tired today,” said Pouille, who also ousted 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain along the way. “I played four matches, one in four sets, and then all three in five.
“I did my best today. Gael was playing very good. He’s physically very fit. He’s moving so well. I think he was better than me today.”
The red-hot Monfils maintained an impeccable run to the last four with his fifth consecutive straight-sets win in a hard court season in which he won the ATP World Tour 500 event in Washington, reached the semi-finals in Toronto and the quarter-finals at the Rio Olympics.
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.
Against Djokovic, Monfils is still looking for his first victory after a dozen defeats. He has won three of seven meetings with good friend Tsonga.
Monfils, 30, said he regards Djokovic as one of the greatest players ever, but would not shrink from a chance to play the Serb for a berth in Sunday’s U.S. Open final.
“He’s a better player than me, definitely. I think I have no shame to say it. He is better than me,” said Monfils, before suggesting that a breakthrough was possible on any given day.
“You can be the best, but one match is enough, you know. If I face him, I will take the one match as enough.”
In women’s quarterfinal action, second seed Angelique Kerber was first through to the semifinals when Roberta Vinci was tripped up by a foot fault and tumbled out of the year’s final grand slam falling 7-5, 6-0.
The match had looked an intriguing one pitting Kerber, who is eyeing Serena Williams’s world number one ranking, against the 33-year-old Italian Vinci, who discovered a fountain of youth at Flushing Meadows last year when she reached the finals.
But there would be no return trip for Vinci as a confident Kerber hung tough during a rollercoaster opening set then delivered a devastating knockout punch in the second to reach the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time since 2011.
“The key of the match was the first set,” said Kerber, who can supplant Williams atop the world rankings if the American fails to reach Saturday’s final. “I mean, it was really close and tough.
“She’s a tough opponent with her slice. I was trying to stay in the match and not thinking that I’m the break down.
“Just going for it.”
Three times Vinci would break Kerber in the opening set and three times she would allow the German to immediately break back, including once while serving at 5-4 for the set.
But it would be Kerber claiming the decisive break to win the set when Vinci was called for a foot fault on her second serve before sarcastically applauding the line judge as she walked off the court.
The Italian never recovered and Kerber blasted through the second set in 24 minutes to clinch her semi-final spot.
“Bad luck for the first set,” said Vinci. “I had so many chances.
“Probably I was playing better than her the first set but she’s a great player.
“So I lost the first set, and then the second set she started to play better than the first set. I was a little bit down.”
After last year’s magical run to the final, which included one of the biggest grand slam upsets of all-time when she beat Williams in the semifinals, Vinci’s expectations and ranking had both risen dramatically on her return to Flushing Meadows.
A year ago oddsmakers had set the unseeded Vinci as a 300-1 longshot to win the season’s final grand slam but this year she arrived as a legitimate contender and seeded seventh.
But while Vinci was able to deny Williams a chance to play for a rare calendar-year grand slam in New York last year, she was unable to find a way past Australian Open champion Kerber, who will next face either Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki or Latvian Anastasija Sevastova.
“This morning in my mind I said, ‘OK try your best’; tough opponent like Serena last year,” said Vinci. “You have nothing to lose. Play your game. Try to enjoy.
“She’s number two in the world. Maybe number one, so she’s in confidence.
“I knew it was tough, tough to win against her.”