Le Français Gaël Monfils a battu l'Américain Taylor Fritz au troisième tour de l'Open d'Australie. dpa – Frank Molter
Frenchman Gaël Monfils beat American Taylor Fritz in the third round of the Australian Open this Saturday, January 18, 2025.
Who will stop Gaël Monfils ? The Frenchman, ranked 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 American Taylor Fritz (4th). Having become the oldest tournament winner on the main circuit in New Zealand since 1977, the 38-year-old Parisian signed an eighth consecutive victory in Melbourne, with a score of 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 [1], 6-4.
Overpowering aces, suave drop shots: “La Monf” showed once again that he had lost none of his touch, ending up disgusting Fritz after a fight that lasted more than three hours.“I managed to take him where I wanted. I think I did the job”, smiled Monfils just after his exploit.
“With a bit of luck, here I am in the second week of the Australian Open”, he said to a crowd largely won over to his cause. In a press conference, the Frenchman recalled that he continued to “play for these matches, to face great players on great courts”.
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Fritz, for his part, appeared resigned. “It sucks to go out in the 3rd round, (…) but I'm not going to lose sleep over it, he played a really good match”, said the American. “He brought everything back, there wasn't much to do”, he added.
A tennis veteran, Monfils ended a series of 12 consecutive Grand Slam defeats against top 5 players on Saturday, his last success dating back to 2008, against the 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, who qualified on Friday after Arthur Fils (21st) withdrew due to a foot injury. Corentin Moutet (69th) was however dominated on Saturday in three sets by another American, the young Learner Tien (121st at 19 years old), winner 7-6 [10], 6-3, 6-3 after having already eliminated the world No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in the previous round.
Equal to Federer
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 a later age than Monfils. As in his only previous duel with Fritz, won by the Californian in 2019 already in Melbourne, the match started badly for Monfils.
After missing a break point at two games all, the Frenchman had his serve taken on a double fault (5-3), before Fritz confirmed on his serve to win the first set 6-3.
Undeterred by Fritz's forehand missiles, Monfils got back to work in the second set. At 6-5 in his favour, he took the American's serve with a shutout to restore equality at one set each (7-5).
A final ace for the road
Equally tight, the 3rd set logically ended in a tie-break. From the first point, won by Monfils after having shown his opponent every nook and cranny of the court until disgusting him with a final lob, the Frenchman dictated the tone.
After breaking away at 6/0, “La Monf” won the deciding game 7/1, immediately receiving a standing ovation from the crowd at the Margaret Court Arena. The Frenchman, imperial on serve, delivered the final blow by breaking Fritz at 4-4 in the fourth set before finishing the match on his serve with a final ace (6-4).