TORONTO- - A confident Gael Monfils, fresh off his tournament win in Washington, cruised by Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-3 6-3 on Tuesday to ease into the second round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
The Frenchman, seeded 10th, won 50 percent of his return points against Sousa and hammered down eight aces to extend his win streak to six matches.
"I think I've put in good work with my team. What I try to do is keep working with them and then see the results later," said Monfils, two days removed from his first tournament win in two-and-a-half years. "I like to think when I'm in my top game and with consistency, I can beat a lot of players at the top."
Monfils will next play the winner of Wednesday's clash between Belgium's David Goffin and American Sam Querrey, who stunned world number one Novak Djokovic en route to reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals three weeks ago.
Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych, playing his first match since losing in the Wimbledon semi-final to eventual champion Andy Murray, secured his spot in the third round with a 4-6 6-1 6-4 win over Croatia's Borna Coric.
Second seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland will face Russia's Mikhail Youzhny later on Tuesday.
Top seed Djokovic, the only member of the "Big Four" in Toronto, will play his first singles match since Wimbledon when he opens his North American hardcourt season versus Luxembourg's Gilles Muller on Wednesday.
