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World No. 20 Gael Monfils acknowledged that he absolutely loves to play in Sofia after making the semifinal at the tournament. Monfils, seeded at No. 2, demolished world No. 78 Gianluca Mager 6-2 6-2 to progress into the Sofia semifinal.
In his Sofia debut -- which came in 2019 -- Monfils made the semifinal before losing to Daniil Medvedev. “I like to be here,” Monfils said in his on-court interview, per the ATP website. “The city is great.
The people organising the tournament are always amazing. I have had a very good time with good preparation and that is why I think I played very well today”. Monfils plays next against world No. 67 Marcos Giron and he insists he won't be taking the American for granted.
“Nothing is easy,” Monfils added. “We have been putting in work for nearly four days here. Working on my serve and my forehand and it worked perfectly today. I will be ready for Marcos. He has been playing very well, so I think it will be a tough semi-final”.
Monfils' next opponent Giron is on fire
After upsetting No. 3 seed Alex de Minaur, Giron beat John Millman 6-4 6-2 to set up a Monfils clash. "It feels awesome," Giron said in his on-court interview. "First of all, tough match to John.
He is a force on the ATP Tour, so I am really happy to get the win. It feels great to be in the semi-finals, but I don't want to stop there. I want to keep going." Giron is enjoying a breakthrough season on the Tour. "I think they both [resilience and confidence] go hand in hand," Giron said.
"If you are resilient and come back from tough situations it gives you confidence and next time you are under pressure you feed off that past success. "I am building on the past month. I have been playing good tennis. In the second set he had break points to get back on serve, so I am really happy with how I played there."