[Tennis] Australian Open: five French people in the 3rd round in Melbourne, a first since 2017

World No. 69 Corentin Moutet, the last Frenchman entered on Thursday in Melbourne, became the 5th Frenchman to reach the 3rd round of the Australian Open, a total not seen since the 2017 edition of the first Grand Slam of the season.

After the qualifications of Ugo Humbert (14th), Arthur Fils (21st), Gaël Monfils (41st) and Benjamin Bonzi (64th), the 25-year-old Frenchman won 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 ( 7/3), 6-4 against the American Mitchell Krueger (146th).

Moutet, who had until now never gone beyond the second round in Melbourne, will face world No. 5 Daniil Medvedev or young American talent Learner Tien (121st) to try to earn his place among the 16 best players in Australia.

In the men’s draw, the French contingent in the 3rd round had not been this strong since 2017, when Benoît Paire, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gaël Monfils, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon reached the gates of the round of 16.

Conversely, there are no more French players left in the women’s draw after the elimination of Varvara Gracheva in the second round on Thursday.