Gael Monfils vs Andrey Rublev Prediction: Monfils has performed well before the start of the championship

In the second round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, the 162nd ranked player in the world, Gael Monfils, will meet Andrei Rublev, No. 8 in the world ranking. The guys have crossed paths twice before in the Tour, both face-to-face meetings were played on hard court, the score of the confrontation is 1:1, and the bookmakers are on the side of the Russian in the pairing.

The Frenchman was quite a prominent figure before the US Open, having played four hard-court tournaments, even reaching the quarterfinals of the Toronto Masters. In the first round of the Majors, Monfils was stronger than Japanese Daniel, the 95th-ranked player in the world, in 4 sets. The match lasted three hours and 13 minutes; Gael won it with the score 4:6, 6:4, 6:2, 7:6. During the game, the Frenchman made 23 aces with 12 double faults, won 84% of points on the first serve and 36% on the second. Gael has enough faults, but his risky style of play allowed Monfils to achieve a fairly confident victory.

Rublev did not impress before the start of the US Open, losing both of his matches on hard courts. Rublev lost to McDonald in Toronto and Ruusuvuori in Cincinnati. In the first round, Andrei had to play against Ruusuvuori, but the Finn withdrew from the tournament to the delight of the Russian. The thing is that not so long ago, Rublev Ruusuvuori lost. Instead of the Finn, Rublev's opponent became a lackey loser, Frenchman Cazeau. Rublev very confidently, in three sets, beat his opponent with the score 6:4, 7:6, 6:1.

Monfils showed himself well before the start of the U.S. Open, and it is noticeable that the Frenchman has gained good form and wants to return to the list of title contenders, even if not at the Majors, but at smaller tournaments. On the other hand, Rublev looked weak and might not have made it to the second round if he had played Ruusuvuori instead of Cazeau. Rublev has experience of beating Monfils, but the Frenchman also beat the Russian in his time. In general, we believe the upcoming match will be protracted, and we won't be surprised if it goes to 5-sets. As for the outcome, we bet on the outsider.