ROTTERDAM, February 16, 2020
Gael Monfils successfully defended his title at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, defeating Canada’s NextGen star Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4 in Sunday’s singles final at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam.
The No. 3 seed from France, who claimed a record-tying third Montpellier title last week, converted four of his 11 break point chances to secure victory in one hour and 26 minutes.
Lovely to see the embrace with @felixtennis at the end 👏
The moment @Gael_Monfils secured his second #ATPTour title in as many weeks.
🎥: @TennisTV | @abnamrowtt pic.twitter.com/ImFw3tGpHF
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 16, 2020
“It’s an amazing feeling for the first time for me to back it up, year after year, week after week. It is a different feeling I have never experienced in my career, so I feel grateful,” said Monfils.
“[In the FedEx ATP Rankings, I want] to reach the fifth spot. I have been sixth. [I would like] to reach the final at another Masters 1000, why not try to win one and keep the dream alive. The dream is to win a Grand Slam and that is what I am playing for and training for. It is tough, but I believe that maybe one day I will be lucky enough to win one.”
By lifting his 10th ATP Tour career trophy, Monfils took away from the Netherlands €406,840 in prize money as well as 500 ATP Ranking points.
Herbert/Mahut take second Rotterdam title
Earlier in the day, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut clinched the doubles title. The No. 2 seeds from France fought past Henri Kontinen from Finnland and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-7 in one hour and 34 minutes to lift their second trophy in three team appearances in Rotterdam.
“It is a tournament I love,” said Mahut. “The first time I came here, I saw the Centre Court [and] it is amazing. One of the greatest on the Tour, definitely. I have a special feeling when I play in Holland… There is something special here.”
Herbert added: “We were still believing in ourselves and we found the solution to win maybe the one or two points that you need to make a difference in a match like this.”
