When Gael Monfils won the first two sets on Tuesday afternoon, a stark reality set in for Lucas Pouille:
He would need to come from behind and win his fourth consecutive five-set match if he hoped to advance to his first career semifinal at a major.
That was too tall an order.
Instead, the 10th-seeded Monfils prevailed in three lopsided sets over his depleted countryman, the 22-year-old Pouille, who had defeated Rafael Nadal in an epic fourth-round match.
Monfils won emphatically, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, in just over two hours.
Monfils, 30, has now won 15 consecutive sets at the US Open.
After losing his last six Slam quarterfinals, Monfils advanced to his first semifinal since 2008 at Roland Garros, his home major.
The normally flamboyant Monfils, known as one of the game’s consummate showmen, maintained his focus while keeping the showboat shots to a minimum.
The flying Frenchman has been uncharacteristically grounded – all business and no drama – at this year’s Open, advancing to the semifinal without dropping a set.
His rare combination of speed and power were on full display, of course.
So also was Monfils’s predilection for sliding side-to-side and back-to-front on the hard court of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
But everything was results-, rather than entertainment-, oriented.
Pouille did his best to shorten points, approaching the net 44 times.
While he did successfully win points that way, Monfils also deftly and repeatedly lobbed the ball over his opponent’s head when he crowded the net.
“I know him quite a bit,” said Monfils of his compatriot. “He was maybe a little bit flat today.”
After 19 sets and more than 12 hours on court, Pouille couldn’t muster the same kind of energy and inspiration that had propelled him to this juncture.
Physically, he was no match for the fluid Monfils.
By midway in the second set, unforced errors had begun to creep into and deflate the younger Frenchman’s game.
Monfils broke serve early in each set and convincingly glided into the first semifinal of his 10th US Open (he had twice reached the quarterfinals in Flushing Meadows, most recently in 2014).
Monfils closed it out with an ace down the middle, his 13th.
The Frenchman won 85 percent of his first-serve points and played a stunningly clean match, registering 34 winners against just 15 unforced errors.
The oft-injured Monfils, for all his talent and potential, has never made it to a major final.
He only this year won his biggest title, the ATP 500 event in Washington. He has won just six tour titles.
Monfils has missed nine major events since 2007, with a host of injuries.
Coming into this year’s Open, Monfils has been on a tear. He is now 19-2 on hard courts since Wimbledon.
Monfils has been less lackadaisical in rallies than in previous years; he is hitting with greater purpose and setting up opportunities to strike winners.
With his enormous wingspan and athleticism, he has always been able to generate pace.
What perhaps has held him back was decision-making and commitment on court.
Pouille, who had advanced to his second career quarterfinal after reaching the same round with a surprise run at Wimbledon two months ago, has experienced a meteoric rise on the pro circuit.
He climbed from outside the Top 100 to No. 25 in just over a year, and he will enter the Top 20 for the first time next week.
In their only previous encounter, at the 2015 Australian Open, Monfils came back from two-sets-down to beat Pouille in five.
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