Gaël Monfils qualified for the quarter-finals by beating Kecmanovic in three sets

The heat and physical suffering will have bothered him for a long time, but Gaël Monfils made his experience speak for itself. Shaken by an excellent Miomir Kecmanovic on Sunday at the Margaret Court Arena, the Frenchman finally qualified for his 10th Grand Slam quarter-final in just over 2h30 (7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3 ). An extremely difficult match for Monfils, who will have to recover before facing Matteo Berrettini, seeded 7 of the tournament and scorer of Pablo Carreno Busta (7-5, 7-6, 6-4), for a place in the last square.

The tournament was almost perfect for Gaël Monfils who had not yet lost a set before going to the John Cain Arena to face Kecmanovic. But this time, the fight was much more grueling than in his first rounds. Faced with an extremely combative Serbian in addition to being very consistent, Monfils had to use his experience to win in the hot moments.

Monfils jostled but finally in front

From the start of the match, we could feel the French wanting to hurt. Excellent in service, author of many winning shots, he also gave up a lot of points too easily, sometimes having air pockets. This was the case at 5-4, when he led 0-40 on the opposing serve. Three set points dismissed by Kecmanovic who equalized, then led 0-40 on Monfils’ serve. Jostled, the French finally got back on his feet to go back and pocket this first run.

Physically affected, Monfils began to show rather negative “body language” from the second round. Exhausted, he showed many signs of fatigue, allowing the Serb to earn a first break at 1-1. A break finally erased a few games later thanks to a flash of lucidity from Monfils, who knew how to make the right choices when necessary. After getting two set points at 6-5, Monfils finally had to get the set in the tie-break. A decisive game however badly started because the Frenchman was trailing 4-2 but finally won brilliantly 7-4.

The third set was decisive for Monfils who seemed unable to fight much more. Well helped by his first ball, he was never worried about his face-off but made the Serb doubt his own. Despite great regularity from Kecmanovic with a desire to enter the field to eat up his opponent’s time, it was Monfils who most often had the last word. A victory in 3 sets as in the first three rounds which allows Gaël Monfils to reach the quarter-finals. A magnificent performance for an almost perfect start to the season for the tricolor, in full rebirth after a more than complicated year 2021.