Australian Open. Monfils enjoys and takes the eighth, Moutet surprised… What to remember from

This is the big sensation of this Australian Open on the French side. At 38, Gaël Monfils, 41^e world player, achieved the major performance of overthrowing world No. 4 Taylor Fritz (3-6, 7-5, 7-6 [1]6-4) to reach the round of 16, Saturday January 18, achieving an eighth consecutive success after his victorious week at the ATP 250 in Auckland. The American had nevertheless taken the advantage in the first set before surrendering against the Parisian, with great confidence at the start of the season.

The oldest winner of a tournament on the main circuit since 1977 in New Zealand last week, the Frenchman ended a series of 12 Grand Slam defeats against members of the top 5. His last victory of the kind was in 2008, against the Spaniard David Ferrer in the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros. Gaël Monfils also took his revenge on Taylor Fritz, who had beaten him during their only duel, already in Melbourne, six years ago (on 2^e round, in four hooked sets). For a place in the quarters, he will face another American, Ben Shelton (20^e), who edged out the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (15^e) in pain (6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 [5]).

The day after the qualification of French No. 1 Ugo Humbert for the round of 16, Messin having benefited from the abandonment of his compatriot Arthur Fils, Corentin Moutet could have become the third Frenchman to invite himself in the second week in Melbourne. Highest ranked (69^e) than his opponent, the American nugget from the qualifications Learner Tien (121^e), Petar Popovic’s protégé was eliminated in the 3rd^e round after a big fight of 2 hours 49 minutes that the score does not necessarily reflect (7-6 [10]6-3, 6-3).

Alex de Minaur, last Australian in the running

The loss of the first set in the tie-break, after missing a set point at 7-6, did a lot of harm to Corentin Moutet, who was unable to do anything afterwards in the face of the freshness of one sensations of the tournament. The Californian indeed released a feat in the previous round, winning the 5th^e world player Daniil Medvedev (6-3, 7-6 [4]6-7 [8]1-6, 7-6 [7]). In a clear game, Learner Tien will face the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (55^e), winner of the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (59^e) in four sets (6-7 [3]7-6 [6]6-1, 6-2).

In front of his audience, Alex de Minaur, 8^e world player, overthrew the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (31^e) in four sets (5-7, 7-6 [3]6-3, 6-3), to avoid zero Australian points in the round of 16. To hope to reach the quarters, he will face the rising star of American tennis, Alex Michelsen, very solid winner of the No. 9 seed Karen Khachanov (6-3, 7-6 [5]6-2). In the women’s draw, world No. 2 Iga Swiatek was quick against the British Emma Raducanu (6-1, 6-0).

The Pole, semi-finalist at the Australian Open in 2022, will challenge the surprising lucky-loser Eva Lys (128^e): the German continues her journey after having dampened the hopes of the Romanian Jaqueline Cristian (4-6, 6-3, 6-3). It also goes for the seeds n° 6, 8 and 9, the Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina, the American Emma Navarro and the Russian Daria Kasatkina.

Results from Saturday January 18 in Melbourne

Men

Alex Michelsen (É-U) beat Karen Khachanov (RUS / n°19) : 6-3, 7-6 [5]6-2

Gaël Monfils bat Taylor Fritz (É-U / n°4): 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 [1]6-4

Alex de Minaur (AUS / n° 8) beat Francisco Cerundolo (ARG / n°31): 5-7, 7-6 [3]6-3, 6-3

Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) bats Fabian Marozsan: 6-7 [3]7-6 [6]6-1, 6-2

Learner Tien (É-U) bat Corentin Moutet : 7-6 [10]6-3, 6-3

Ben Shelton (É-U / n°21) bats Lorenzo Musetti (ITA / n°16) : 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 [5]

Women

Emma Navarro (É-U / n°8) beats Ons Jabeur (TUN) : 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Iga Swiatek (POL / n°2) bat Emma Raducanu (GB) : 6-1, 6-0

Eva Lys (ALL) bats Jaqueline Cristian (ROU): 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Daria Kasatkina (RUS / n°9) bat Yulia Putintseva (KAZ / n°24) : 7-5, 6-1

Elena Rybakina (KAZ / n°6) bat Dayana Yastremska (UKR / n°32) : 6-3, 6-4

Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRÉ / n°15) : 6-4, 6-2