Gael Monfil’s poor 2018 continues with early Munich exit

Michael Graham 02 May 2018 9:59 AM

MUNICH, GERMANY - MAY 01: Gael Monflis of France reacts during his first round match against Mirza Basic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on day 4 of the BMW Open by FWU at MTTC IPHITOS on May 1, 2018 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images for BMW)

Gael Monfils was beaten by by Bosnia’s Mirza Basic in the first round at Munich as his 2018 struggles continued.

Monfils, the seventh seed, lost 6-2 3-6 6-3 to the world number 90 in one hour and 37 minutes.

It was a tight match the ebbed and flowed until Basic took a firm grip by winning 12 of the first 15 points in the deciding set.

However, there were no such troubles for Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, the sixth seed, who led a good day for the home nation with a 7-5 6-4 victory over big-serving Ivo Karlovic.

Kohlschreiber withstood 15 aces from the Croatian to secure a spot in the last 16, where he was joined by fellow Germans Jan-Lennard Struff, Yannick Maden, Mischa Zverev and Maximilian Marterer.

Fifth seed Fabio Fognini, though, was defeated 5-7 6-3 6-2 by compatriot Marco Cecchinato.