Video: Monfils Hits Gorgeous Tweener vs. Mathieu before Saving Six Match Points

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Video: Monfils Hits Gorgeous Tweener vs. Mathieu before Saving Six Match Points

Yesterday we showed you Ivan Dodig's somewhat pedestrian tweener against Rafael Nadal, saying that while it was slightly mindblowing—it was a tweener after all—that it was not in the league of the tweeners that we regularly see Roger Federer or Dustin Brown hit. Well, apparently Gael Monfils took offense to us mentioning Dustin Brown in that post instead of him, so he went out and hit a beauty today during the second set of his dust-up with fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Video: Federer Hits Regal Tweener Lob as Becker Falls Down in Dubai

Lamonf's tweener itself was beautiful (though he did fail to get the lob high enough and left himself vulnerable to a smash), but what was absolutely amazing about this point was the way that Monfils recovers in time to read Mathieu's body language and take off at a blazing sprint so that he can track down the Frenchman's smash and make a sparkling crosscourt winner to steal the point.

Incroyable!

Remarkably, Monfils would go on to save six match points in the second-set tiebreaker and rally for a 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-2 victory. Still, he was nonplussed by his own up and down performance.

“I played very poorly today,” Monfils told ATPWorldTour.com. “I was too defensive, but I got lucky. On two or three of the match points he got tight. I am very frustrated. I managed to win, which is the only good point. I did not deserve this match, one of the worst I played this year.”

Monfils will face Grigor Dimitrov in a battle of highlight reel stars in the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy semifinals in Bucharest on Saturday. Get your popcorn ready...

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