By taking on Fritz, world number 5, Monfils, 38, achieved a feat that he had previously only accomplished once in his career: beating a member of the top 5 in a Grand Slam. It was in 2008, against David Ferrer, in the quarter-final at Roland-Garros.
Monfils, 41st ATP player in the world, will face the winner of the upcoming match between American Ben Shelton, seeded No. 21, and Italian Lorenzo Musetti, seeded No. 16 in the round of 16 of the Australian Grand Slam.
In the previous rounds of the 2025 Australian Open, the 38-year-old Frenchman needed five sets to dominate the No. 30 seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (7-6 [7]6-3, 6-7 [6]6-7 [5]6-4), and won against the German Daniel Altmaier (7-5, 6-3, 7-6 [3]).
-Fritz, 4th in the ATP world, beat Jenson Brooksby without being disturbed by the score (6-2, 6-0, 6-3), and the Chilean qualifier Cristian Garin (6-2, 6-1, 6-0 ).
The other posters for the third round at the Australian Open (Grand Slam, Melbourne Park, hard, 60,627,573 USD, results displayed from newest to oldest):
- Miomir Kecmanovic – Holger Rune: scheduled for Saturday
- Jannik Sinner – Marcos Giron: scheduled for Saturday
- Ben Shelton – Lorenzo Musetti: scheduled for Saturday
- Corentin Moutet – Learner Tien: scheduled for Saturday
- Lorenzo Sonego – Fabian Marozsan: scheduled for Saturday
- Francisco Cerundolo – Alex De Minaur: scheduled for Saturday
- Alex Michelsen – Karen Khachanov (N.19) : 6-3, 7-6 [5]6-2
- Jack Draper (N.15) – Aleksandar Vukic : 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 [5]7-6 [8]
- Jiri Lehecka (N.24) – Benjamin Bonzi : 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
- Novak Djokovic (N.7) – Tomas Machac (N.26) : 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
- Ugo Humbert (N.14) – Arthur Fils (N.20): Humbert qualified (4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 1-0 ab.)
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina – Jakub Mensik : 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 [7]6-4, 6-2
- Alexander Zverev (N.2) – Jacob Fearnley : 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
- Carlos Alcaraz (N.3) defeated Nuno Borges 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 [3]6-2
- Tommy Paul (N.12) – Roberto Carballes Baena: 7-6, 6-2, 6-0
