Antwerp (Belgium) (AFP)

The Masters move away for Gael Monfils: the French N.1 was defeated on Thursday in the 2nd round of the Antwerp tournament by the Italian Jannik Sinner, 119th world player.

In the diamond city, the N.13 ATP has never managed to take the game with his opponent, who won 6-3, 6-2 in just one hour.

In the quarter-finals, Sinner will challenge American Frances Tiafoe (N.53), who falls on Thursday with Jan-Lennard Struff (N.41) 6-3, 6-4.

Already sidelined in the second round at the Shanghai Masters 1000 last week, this second early defeat is a bad move for Monfils in the race for the London Masters.

Thirteenth in the Race, the classification that determines the qualifiers for the Masters, Monfils is 355 points behind the 8th and final qualifying place.

Before the eight best players of the season meet on November 10, the French must still line up in Vienna and Masters 1000 Paris-Bercy.

Among his direct competitors this week on the courts, the Belgian David Goffin between Thursday night in the running in Antwerp, while the Italian Fabio Fognini was dry (6-1, 6-1 defeat) in the eighth finals in Stockholm by Serbian veteran Janko Tipsarevic.

© 2019 AFP