Paris (AFP)

The day of Tuesday at the Masters 1000 in Shanghai was expensive at the French camp, with the elimination of Richard Gasquet in the first round, then Gael Monfils and Benedict Paire in the second, only Lucas Pouille succeeding in the suffering.

Among the favorites, Roger Federer qualified without really convincing for the round of 16 by dismissing Albert Ramos (46) 6-2, 7-6 (7/5). Andy Murray (289th), who will return to the Grand Slam in January at the Australian Open, and Daniil Medvedev (4th) played at the end of the program.

Because of the stakes, the biggest disappointment tricolor of the day comes from Monfils, 11th in the world, eliminated by the very solid Pole Hubert Hurkacz (34th) 6-2, 7-6 (7/1).

The defeat is likely to plummet the quarter finalists of the last US Open in his race at the Masters London (November 10-17) because his opponents, they are still in contention.

Dominated in the first set by an excellent Hurkacz, Monfils took advantage of the interruption due to the rain to return in better arrangements for the second run. He did race in the lead, but could not avoid a decisive game.

He was completely overwhelmed in this tie-break, where he was quickly led 6-0, six match points for his opponent. It took only two to the Pole to conclude on an ultimate long ball of the Frenchman.

- Disappointing tour -

Monfils ends a disappointing Asian tour. Since his quarter-final at the US Open in early September, he has played three tournaments without succeeding in two consecutive wins: he was eliminated in quarters in Zhuhai where he had been exempted from the first round, and lost the week last in the first round in Beijing.

Hurkacz will face Stefanos Tsitsipas (7th) or Felix Auger-Aliassime (19th) for a place in the quarter-finals.

Gasquet, 52nd worldwide, was swept 6-2, 6-3 in less than an hour by David Goffin (14th). The Belgian, who is aiming for a place at the London Masters, will face in the second round the Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin (57th).

Since his semifinal at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati in August, where he had already given in to Goffin, Gasquet played four tournaments where he was eliminated every time very quickly: three times in the first round and once in the second. But at the US Open he fell in front of future semifinalist Matteo Berrettini and last week he was eliminated from entry to Beijing by the 5th world and future winner of the Dominic Thiem tournament. In Metz, he lost in the second round against Benoît Paire.

- Federer's slow return -

The latter, the day after a solid first round against the qualifier Marco Cecchinato (69th), yielded 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 ahead Nikoloz Basilashvili (26th). The 30-year-old Avignonnais, who had two defeats since entering the line in Chengdu and Tokyo, has never spent the second round in Shanghai in six participations.

Only Puglie (22nd) enlightened the day of the French, but his victory 6-7 (4/7) 6-4, 6-4 on the 231st world player, the veteran Chinese Zhe Li (33 years), beneficiary of a wild card, was very slow.

In the next round, the French N.2 will receive the replica of the great American waiter John Isner (17th), who eliminated the Australian hope Alex de Minaur (24th), 7-6 (7/1), 6-4.

Federer (3rd), exempt from first round as the main seeds and playing his first official tournament since his retirement in the quarterfinals of the US Open in early September for pain in the upper back and neck, n ' was not imperial to dismiss Ramos.

After having mastered the first set, he went down in the second, especially on his travels, and left hope to his opponent. But on a final boost at the end of the tie break, the Swiss, double winner in Shanghai (2014, 2017), secured a place in 8th where he will face Kukushkin or Goffin.

© 2019 AFP