Former world No.6 six Gael Monfils has made a fine start to the ATP's Sofia Open by beating Serbia's Viktor Troicki in the first round.
Frenchman Monfils, who has slipped to 33rd in the world rankings after a series of injuries, offered fans plenty of jaw-dropping moments with his trademark acrobatics and baseline winners in the 6-3 6-4 victory.
The charismatic 32-year-old eased through the first set after breaking Troicki in the fourth game.
Troicki, who reached the final in Sofia in 2016, put up more of a fight in the second but Monfils clinched the set with a superb service game to take his perfect record against the Serb to 5-0.
The seventh-seeded Monfils served nine aces to wildcard Troicki's eight in the hour-long match.
"I think my rate of service was not very good," Monfils said.
"I need to serve better if I want to stay in the tournament."
Next up for Monfils is the winner of the first-round clash between Serbian Laslo Djere and Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin.
Jan-Lennard Struff set up a second-round meeting with Greek second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas with a 6-4 6-3 defeat of Stefano Travaglia.
Big-serving Daniel Brands stunned Georgian fifth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-6 (9-7) 7-5 while fellow German qualifier Yannick Maden beat Adrian Mannarino of France 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
Other opening-round winners were Robin Haase and Matteo Berrettini.
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