Gaël Monfils and Adrian Mannarino bring a smile back to French tennis, at least during this Australian Open. After their victories in the 3rd round of the tournament, respectively against Garin and Karatsev, the two players will play in the round of 16 of the Australian Grand Slam, a performance never achieved in a Major by a Frenchman since… Roland-Garros 2020.
Long accustomed over the past fifteen years to seeing its players still in contention during the second week, French tennis is indeed coming out of a catastrophic year 2021 with a zero point in this area, a first since 1978. Roland-Garros had been the worst symbol with no player passing the second round.
An open round of 16
To find traces of a Frenchman in the round of 16, we must go back to the exceptional performance of Hugo Gaston who, after having subdued Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round on the Parisian clay courts of Roland-Garros, had then come up against Dominic Thiem in five sets. It was at the beginning of October 2020 so more than 15 months ago.
This year, Gaël Monfils achieved this performance without losing the slightest set en route, which he has already achieved five times. With such a career, he managed to reach the semi-finals of the US Open in 2016.
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6. For the 6th time in his career, @Gael_Monfils qualified for the 1/8 finals of a Grand Slam without conceding a single set:
???? US 2009 (1/8)
???? US 2014 (1/4)
???? OA 2016 (1/4)
???? US 2016 (1/2)
???? RG 2019 (1/8)
???? OA 2022 (?)??? In parentheses: Final Result pic.twitter.com/FhTbXht5Ey
— Game, Set and Maths (@JeuSetMaths) January 21, 2022
In the next round, the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, 77th in the world, stands in front of him. An obstacle far from insurmountable when “La Monf” could have found himself challenging Novak Djokovic if the world number one had finally been able to participate in the tournament. He will therefore aim for his second quarter in Melbourne after that of 2016 lost to Canadian Milos Raonic (3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6).
For Mannarino it is his best course on Australian soil, he who had never passed the 3rd round, and with style! The French took out Hurkacz (11th) and Aslan Karatsev (15th), semi-finalist last year. In the next round, he will struggle with Nadal…
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It is in any case the 20th qualification in the round of 16 of a Grand Slam for Gaël Monfils. Five lengths from the French record held by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But at 35, it would be welcome for other players to take over or risk waiting several more months before seeing such a performance again…
