Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Monday July 1, 2024 at 6:41 p.m.
Gaël Monfils beat Adrian Mannarino and Alexandre Müller dominated Hugo Gaston in the two all-French matches of the first round of Wimbledon.
Two French players were guaranteed to qualify for the second round of Wimbledon, since two 100% French matches were on the program for the first round. And the two lucky ones are Gaël Monfils and Alexandre Müller! Building on his semi-final in Mallorca, his first on grass since 2018, “La Monfe” beat Adrian Mannarino, a brilliant grass player but in a big crisis of results since February. He won 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in 2h55. This is the third time that the two Frenchmen have faced each other at Wimbledon, after 2015 (victory for Monfils) and 2017 (victory for Mannarino), and Monfils got off to the best start by winning the first set. thanks to a break at the best moment, at 5-4, on his second break point of the set. But “Manna” responded in the second by breaking right away and at 5-3, which allowed him to equalize at one set each. In the third, Monfils was extremely efficient by taking his compatriot’s serve on his only opportunity, at 5-5, to lead two sets to one. All that remained was to finish the job, and he did so by breaking at 3-3, after missing three opportunities a little earlier. At 5-3, Monfils missed four match points on his opponent’s serve, but the fifth, on his serve, was the right one. Author of 16 aces, 54 winning shots for 45 unforced errors, the 37-year-old player qualifies for the second round, where another veteran, Stan Wawrinka, awaits him, whom he has never faced on grass.
Müller to challenge Medvedev
Alexandre Müller, eliminated in the second round last year by Carlos Alcaraz, will see the second round again, after his 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 victory in 2h17 in a match with eleven breaks against Hugo Gaston, from the qualifications. A single break, at 1-1, was enough for the Parisian to pocket the first set. The second set was then marked by five breaks, and the Toulousain got a set point at 5-3, but Müller broke back. He missed another at 5-4, and it was finally in the tie-break that the two players had to decide. Müller won 7-2. In the third set, the native of Poissy was able to break back twice after losing his serve (2-2 then 5-5), and won again in the tie-break: 7-5. Like last year, he will have a lot to do in the second round, against Daniil Medvedev.
