Australian Open: At 38, Gaël Monfils overturns world number 4 Taylor Fritz and advances to the round of 16

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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Two French players still in the running

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).