STOCKHOLM, October 19, 2023

Frenchmen Gael Monfils and Adrian Mannarino both withstood the pressure and managed to advance Thursday in the BNP Paribas Nordic Open in Stockholm. The wins mean they will face each other in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tournament on Friday.

World No. 24 Mannarino defeated Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-4. The second seed broke the Russian’s serve twice early in the match and managed to maintain the lead throughout the first set. The second set began in the same manner with an early lead for the Frenchman, who didn’t look back and secured victory in one hour and 31 minutes.

“I really enjoy playing in Stockholm and here in Kungliga tennishallen. It is always an incredibly nice atmosphere,” said Mannarino, who is making his sixth appearance in Stockholm

Monfils beat Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic 6-4, 6-3. The match was similar to the first one, with Monfils breaking the Austrian’s serve early in both sets. By serving strongly himself, he managed to close the match out after one hour and 13 minutes.

Team Monfils approves 🤜🤛@Gael_Monfils earns a 6-4, 6-3 scoreboard against Misolic 🇫🇷 next up Mannarino 🇫🇷#StockholmOpen pic.twitter.com/SySThEUcYY

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 19, 2023

“Filip is playing a little bit more loopy than Marton,” Monfils said after advancing to his first indoor quarterfinal in more than two years with wins over Marton Fucsovics of Hungary and Misolic. “Of course he’s a solid player on both sides. But Marton was very aggressive, so today was about me controlling the points and mixing up the speeds. I think I’ve done good. I was in control so I’m very happy to win this match in two sets.”