Tight battle
Tien outlasts Monfils in Montreal
6-3 0-6 6-3
- Montreal
- Hard
- Tight Battle
Tien over Monfils in three at the National Bank Open
A first meeting between a 20-year-old and a 39-year-old in his final season, and a tennis ball signed afterward.
Learner Tien beat Gael Monfils 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 at the National Bank Open in Montreal on August 5, a night-session match that ran two hours and two minutes. It was the first meeting between them.
Tien took the first set 6-3, lost the second 6-0, and took the third 6-3.
It was not a clean win. Tien hit 53 unforced errors and served five double faults against 17 winners and three aces. He landed 63% of first serves and won 61% of those points, and saved 69% of the break points he faced — the figure that carried him through a match with that error count.
Monfils is 39 and is scheduled to retire at the end of the 2026 season. Tien is 20, ranked 19th, and the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion. He was born about four months after Monfils won his first tour title, at Sopot in 2005.
After the match, Monfils stayed courtside signing autographs. Tien got in the line and asked him to sign a tennis ball. He posted a photo of it afterward on Instagram, writing that it was his "First time asking for an autograph" — though he has said before that he was given a ball signed by Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells as a child. The two embraced once the ball was signed. A fan standing nearby was heard approving.
Tien plays Tommy Paul next, for a place in the fourth round.
Match context
Why this one matters
A win in a match at Montreal on hard courts matters because the archive is not just counting results. It shows where Tien's game is carrying from week to week: surface, stage, opponent type, and whether a tournament is becoming a chapter instead of a one-off line score.
- Hard
- Tight Battle
Montreal — every round
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