Gaël Monfils creates the feat by eliminating world No. 4 Taylor Fritz in the 3rd round

At 38, the Frenchman scored one of the most resounding victories of his career in a Grand Slam tournament on Saturday.

He is eternal. Gaël Monfils will play in the round of 16 of the Australian Open. The Frenchman achieved a big blow by eliminating the No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz on Saturday January 18. The latter was able to channel himself to offer a very high level game for more than three hours of play. The loss of the first round did not panic the 38-year-old veteran, who finally won in four sets. (3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-4).

“La Monf” exploded with joy on a final ace, rewarding the Australian public, totally committed to its cause, with a furious dance. The Frenchman had never before beaten such a highly ranked opponent during a Grand Slam tournament. To find the trace of a Habs winner of a World Top 5 Major, we had to go back to 2016, when Lucas Pouille dismissed Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 of the US Open.

“I think I did the job. With a little success, here I am in the second week of the Australian Open”smiled Gaël Monfils in the center of the Margaret Court Arena. The Frenchman is in brilliant form at the start of 2025. Already winner of the Auckland tournament exactly a week ago, he has eight victories in a row on the ATP circuit. To push this total to nine successes and reach the quarter-finals, he will have to beat a promising youngster, either Ben Shelton (n°21) or Lorenzo Musetti (n°16).

Earlier in the night, Iga Swiatek easily qualified for the eighth by crushing Emma Raducanu (6-1, 6-0). The world No. 2 will face the German Eva Lys, lucky loser and 128th in the WTA rankings.