It’s over for Gaël Monfils at the Australian Open: the Frenchman retires in the fourth round against Ben Shelton

Gaël Monfils abandonne le tournoi australien face à l’américain Ben Shelton. XinHua – Hu Jingchen

Ce lundi 20 janvier 2025, Gaël Monfils affrontait l’américain Ben Shelton lors des huitièmes de finale de l’Open d’Australie. Mais le Français a abandonné.

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Frenchman Gaël Monfils, ranked 41st in the world at 38, gave up at the very beginning of the fourth set of his eighth-final match at the Australian Open against American Ben Shelton (20th) who was leading 7-6 [3], [3] 6-7, 7-6 [2], 1-0, on Monday in Melbourne.

While the first three sets had ended in a tie-break in heat above 30 degrees, the French veteran headed to the net smiling at 1-0 for Shelton, indicating to him that he was ceasing the fight after nearly three hours of battle and eight victories in a row.

Winner of the Auckland tournament at the beginning of January, a title that made him the oldest tournament winner on the main circuit since 1977, Monfils was hoping to reach the quarter-finals for the third time in his career at the Australian Open, after 2016 and 2022.

“Merci Gaël! Merci Gaël!”

As he left the court, the Frenchman paused for a moment to give the crowd a thumbs-up and a salute, who cheered him with cries of “Merci Gaël! Thanks Gaël!” Thanks to his victory, Shelton qualifies for the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the second time, two years after having already achieved this feat for his first participation.

He will face the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (55th), who on Monday put an end to another epic, that of the young American talent Learner Tien (121st), who at 19 years old defeated the world number 5 Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

More information to follow…