There’s always something going on with Gaël Monfils… But despite another somewhat disjointed match against the Chilean Garin (n° 19) and a small ankle scare in the first round which caused him to lose track of an early perfect match, the world No. 20 won with authority (7-6, 6-1, 6-3 in 2:01).
Even if the South American is not the biggest reference on hard court, Monfils had not beaten any player in the top 20 in his last 16 Grand Slam matches. In an atmosphere worthy of a football stadium (and a number of spectators on the new Kia Court well above the authorized gauge), where the French and Chilean colonies answered each other in the stands, the pupil of Günter Bresnik, very effective in the service, will have trembled only in the decisive game of the first set by being led 1-4 before aligning six points in a row.
For the 20th time in his career, here is the No. 1 tricolor, very strong since the recovery (he won the Adelaide tournament before landing in Melbourne) at the meeting of the round of 16. Without losing a single set and with just over 5 hours of play in the legs.
118th match won in Grand Slam
A dream scenario that could well continue on Sunday. At the top of the table, the Frenchman will find a Serb. But not, as expected, a certain Novak Djokovic that he never dominated in 17 attempts. The Serbian, who is a little less flashy, is called Miomir Kecmanovic (No. 77) and took advantage of the expulsion of his compatriot, whom he had to face in the first round, to seize his chance. On Friday, he defeated Italian Sonego, 26th in the ATP (6-4, 6-7, 6-2, 7-5).
During the last Rolex Paris Masters, for their only confrontation, Monfils had all the trouble in the world to get rid of Kecmanovic. But that was before… The opportunity seems great to garner a 118th Grand Slam victory (only Tsonga has done better with 121).