French draw at the Australian Open: a seed for Cazaux, a Franco-French clash from the start

The Australian Open draw, this Thursday, January 9 in Melbourne, offered the French an explosive clash of generations in the first round between Gaël Monfils and Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard, as well as a reunion between Caroline Garcia and the Japanese Naomi Osaka.

The draw

Men

Adrian Mannarino (73rd) – Karen Khachanov (RUS/N.19)
Gaël Monfils (52nd) – Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard (N.30)
Arthur Rinderknech (60th) – Frances Tiafoe (USA/N.17)
Alexei Popyrin (AUS/N.25) – Corentin Moutet
Hugo Gaston (81st) – Omar Jasika (AUS/180th)
Alexandre Muller (56th) – Nuno Borges (POR/36th)
Ugo Humbert (N.14) – Qualified
Adam Walton (AUS/91st) – Quentin Halys (71st)
Otto Virtanen (FIN/92nd) – Arthur Fils (N.20)
Sebastian Baez (ARG/N.28) – Arthur Cazaux (80th)
Lucas Pouille (104th) – Alexander Zverev (GER/N.2)

Ladies

Diane Parry (66th) – Donna Vekic (CRO/N.18)
Cristina Bucsa (ESP/21st) – Chloé Paquet (123rd)
Naomi Osaka (JPN/50th) – Caroline Garcia (58th)
Varvara Gracheva (69th) – Catherine McNally (USA/540th)
Léolia Jeanjean (149th) – to be determined

One, aged 38, remains a star of French tennis, while the second, aged 21, with a formidable serve, aspires to become one: Monfils against Mpetshi-Perricard will be a first-round match in Melbourne, the first Grand Slam of the season, starting on Sunday.

To top it all off, the two French players, who have never met before, are in good shape at the start of the season. On Thursday, while the draw was taking place in Melbourne, the elder secured his qualification for the semi-finals of the tournament in Auckland, in neighbouring New Zealand. And with style, since in his quest for a 13th title, the Parisian, currently ranked 52nd in the world, easily beat the Argentinian Facundo Diaz (78th) in two sets, 6-3, 6-1.

But Mpetshi-Perricard also showed his muscles to start his season by also reaching the last four of an ATP 250, in Brisbane, last week, a performance that allowed him to regain 30th place in the world, his best ranking.

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The winner will have an easy second round before possibly meeting the American Taylor Fritz, seeded No. 4, in the third.

The French No. 1 and 2, Ugo Humbert and Arthur Fils, seeded No. 14 and 20 respectively, could also face each other in the third round.

But to do so, they will have to enforce the hierarchy in the first, during which Fils will face the Finn Otto Virtanen (23 years old, 92nd). Humbert does not yet know his future opponent, who will come from the qualifications.

Pouille inherits from Zverev

Also at the bottom of the table, Lucas Pouille, 104th in the ATP but with an invitation, has drawn one of the big prizes since he will have to battle against the world No. 2, the German Alexander Zverev.

There are five French players in total who have inherited a seed in the first round, including Pouille but also Arthur Cazaux, who caused a sensation last year in Melbourne by reaching the 8th. The Montpellier player, ranked 80th in the world, will face the Argentinian Sebastian Baez (N.28) and, in case of success, will have a lot to do to repeat last year's feat since the Australian Nick Kyrgios and especially Zverev are apparently standing in his way.

There will also be a question of feats, from the first round, for Arthur Rinderknech (against the American Frances Tiafoe) or Adrian Mannarino (against the Russian Karen Khachanov).

As for Alexandre Muller, who has just won the first ATP 250 title of his career at 27 (in Hong Kong), he will have to beat the Portuguese Nuno Borges, 20 places ahead of him in the ranking (36th).
While no Frenchman has come out of the qualifications, there are eleven on the starting line, against only five French women.

Garcia not favorite

The French No. 1, Caroline Garcia, should be entitled to a tempting reunion with Naomi Osaka, whom she beat last year in the first round. The Lyon player will not necessarily be favoured by the predictions, however, as she is coming out of a break of several months to preserve her health.

Garcia has fallen to 58th place, not far from the Japanese (50th), but the former world No. 1, who had taken an even longer break, seems on the way to finding her level again.
“New year, same draw. It's starting to be a classic”, the French player, former world No. 4, rejoiced in any case.

There remains a serious doubt to be cleared for Osaka since she had to withdraw from the final of the Auckland tournament last Sunday due to an injury abdominale”.

For Diane Parry (66th), the challenge will also be taken up against the Croatian Donna Vekic, seeded N.18. The only Frenchwoman to have come out of the qualifications, Léolia Jeanjean (149th) does not yet know her opponent.