Who will stop Gaël Monfils? The Frenchman, 41st in the world and crowned in Auckland at the beginning of January, signed his first Grand Slam victory against a member of the top 5 since 2008 on Saturday against the American Taylor Fritz (4th).
Having become the oldest tournament winner in New Zealand on the main circuit since 1977, the 38-year-old Parisian scored an eighth success in a row in Melbourne, with a score of 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4.
Powerful aces, suave cushioning: “La Monf” showed once again that he had lost none of his touch with the ball, ending up disgusting Fritz after a fight of more than three hours. “I managed to take it wherever I wanted. I think I did the job“, smiled Monfils just after his feat. “With a little success, here I am in the second week of the Australian Open“, he launched to an audience largely won over to his cause.
At a press conference, the Frenchman recalled that he continued to “play for these matches, to face big players on big courts“.
Fritz, for his part, showed resignation. “It sucks to go out in the 3rd round, (…) but I'm not going to lose sleep over it, he delivered a really good match“, estimated the American. “He brought everything back, there wasn't much to do“, he added. “I'm not going to let this defeat affect me too much.“
-Tennis veteran Monfils ended a streak of 12 consecutive Grand Slam defeats against top 5 players on Saturday, his last success dating back to 2008, against Spaniard David Ferrer in a quarter-final at Roland Garros. . He joins his compatriot Ugo Humbert (14th) in the round of 16 of the Australian Open, qualified on Friday after the abandonment of Arthur Fils (21st), injured in his foot.
Corentin Moutet (69th) was on the other hand dominated on Saturday in three sets by another American, the young Learner Tien (121st at 19 years old), winner 7-6 (12/10), 6-3, 6-3 after having already took out world No.5 Daniil Medvedev in the previous round. Two French people will therefore compete in the round of 16, after the defeat of Benjamin Bonzi on Friday in the 3rd round.
Since the 128-player draws were introduced in Melbourne in 1988, only Roger Federer, winner of 20 major tournaments, had managed to reach the round of 16 at an older age than Monfils.
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