Roger Federer has been eliminated from the Monte Carlo Masters in the third round by Gael Monfils, following a straight-sets defeat to the Frenchman.
Monfils beat the number two seed 6-4 7-6(5) after one hour and 46 minutes of tennis.
Monfils looked to take the game to Federer from the offset, but it was the Swiss who gained an early advantage when he moved 3-1 up thanks to a break. However, Monfils responded immediately with a break of his own to level matters.
The number 14 seed improved as the set went on and broke the Federer serve once more to go 5-4 ahead, before comfortably serving the set out at the first attempt.
The second set was an evenly-matched affair, with both players giving little away off their own service games. Some strong baseline play from Monfils gave him three attempts to break in the fifth game, but Federer saved them keep the scores level.
The set entered a tie-break, which Federer looked on course to win after an unforced error from Monfils allowed him to move 5-3 ahead. However, Monfils's aggressive play forced Federer into two errors of his own, which gave the former a 7-6 tie-break win.
Monfils will now face Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals.
Steven Toplis
