Australian Open: Monfils beats Fritz to reach 4th round at age 38
By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer
MELBOURNE, Australia — Gael Monfils joined Roger Federer as the only men to reach the Australian Open’s fourth round at age 38 or older since the tournament field expanded to 128 players in 1988, coming back to beat fourth-seeded Taylor Fritz, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 6-4, on Saturday (Friday night PT).
After punctuating his victory with a 134 mph ace – his 24th of the afternoon, doubling Fritz’s total – Monfils did a celebratory dance at the baseline while thousands of fans at Margaret Court Arena roared, many waving red-white-and-blue French flags.
He started his season with a title at a hard-court event in Auckland, New Zealand, which made him the oldest man to win a tournament since at least 1990.
“Just fortunate. But every day is different. We work hard. I try to be very disciplined with the recovery. I am a strong believer (in) myself. Strong belief I can do some damage,” said Monfils, who has never been past the quarterfinals at the Australian Open but did reach two major semifinals, most recently at the 2016 U.S. Open. “With a little luck, here we are in the second week of the Australian Open.”
Federer was a slightly older 38 when he got to the semifinals at Melbourne Park in 2020, which turned out to be his last appearance at the tournament.
At the other end of the age spectrum, a pair of young Californians who have been friends for a while and trained together in the offseason – Irvine’s Learner Tien, 19, and former Aliso Niguel High standout Alex Michelsen, 20 – earned debuts in the fourth round at a major. Ben Shelton, who is 22, won, too, while another American, Marcos Giron, was facing No. 1 Jannik Sinner at night.
Tien, a qualifier ranked 121st, followed up his surprising win against No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in a five-setter that ended at 3 a.m. on Friday with a 7-6 (10), 6-3, 6-3 victory over Corentin Moutet of France. Michelsen, who is ranked 42nd, overwhelmed No. 19 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2. It was the second time Michelsen knocked off a top-20 seed this week after beating No. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2023 Australian Open runner-up, in the first round.
Shelton, the 21st seed and a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2023, defeated 16th-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), and will take on Monfils on Monday.
Michelsen will try to send another high seed packing when he plays No. 8 Alex de Minaur, an Australian who beat No. 31 Francisco Cerúndolo, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-3. Tien faces 55th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-1, 6-2 winner over Fabian Marozsan.
Playing his usual brand of charismatic, entertaining tennis in front of a loud crowd, Monfils compiled an impressive ratio of 58 winners to 34 unforced errors and dropped just one service game. And while Monfils won 11 of the 15 points he finished at the net, Fritz only went 16 for 30 when he pushed forward.
“I’ve done the job,” Monfils said.
The 27-year-old Fritz, the runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the U.S. Open in September, became the highest-seeded man to exit the bracket at Melbourne Park this year. Fritz’s right foot was treated by a trainer during the match.
The result ended a 12-match losing streak for Monfils against top-five players at Grand Slam tournaments.
Monfils’ wife, Elina Svitolina, was scheduled to play in the same stadium on Saturday night – and also against a fourth-seeded foe, two-time Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini.
“I warmed up the court for her,” Monfils said.
Michelsen joked that he was too busy to have a lengthy phone conversation with his mother back home in California. His excuse was pretty good, actually: He was on court defeating Khachanov.
“Mom, hi! I’m sorry I only called you for a minute this morning. I had things to do,” the 42nd-ranked Michelsen said, looking into a TV camera during his post-match interview at John Cain Arena. “I love you. I miss you. I hope everything’s good at home.”
Michelsen is the second-youngest man from the United States since Andy Roddick in 2003 to get this far at the Australian Open – two years ago, Shelton was about 1½ months younger than Michelsen is now.
Michelsen is part of a crop of Americans making moves in the brackets at Melbourne Park. Six U.S. men and five women from the country reached the third round – both tournament highs.
And Michelsen has done it by defeating two players with some real success at the hard-court event in the past: Tsitsipas was the runner-up in Australia in 2023; Khachanov lost to him in the semifinals that year.
Michelsen, who is coached by 2005 U.S. Open semifinalist Robby Ginepri, converted all four break points he earned against the big-serving Khachanov and compiled an impressive 39 winners to 27 unforced errors.
“I played unbelievable most of that match. I don’t know what’s going on. … I’ve never hit my forehand that well,” Michelsen said. “Played some of my best tennis at the end.”
‘PERFECT’ SWIATEK ROUTS RADUCANU
Everything came so easily for Iga Swiatek during a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Emma Raducanu in a third-round match between two past Grand Slam champions – if you thought that meant it would be close, you’d have been rather wrong – that this was how she described it:
“I felt like the ball,” Swiatek said, “is listening to me.”
Loud and clear. Asked to explain that sensation, Swiatek put her two index fingers a few inches apart and said, “It’s just being able to aim for this kind of space.” Then she spread her palms more than a foot apart to show that’s the margin for error on other days.
The difference, she said, comes down to “being more precise and actually knowing where the ball is going to go, seeing the effects that you want it to.”
When the five-time major champion and former long-time top-ranked woman – now No. 2, behind Aryna Sabalenka – is at the height of her powers, as she sure has seemed to be in Week 1 at Melbourne Park, it is hard for anyone to slow Swiatek down.
The heavy-spinning, high-bouncing forehands. The squeaky-sneaker scrambling to get to every shot. The terrific returning. And so on.
Against Raducanu, who won the 2021 U.S. Open as a teenage qualifier, Swiatek played at a level she called “perfect.”
Indeed, Swiatek mounted a 24-9 edge in winners, made only 12 unforced errors – roughly half of Raducanu’s 22 – and claimed 59 points to 29. That caused one spectator to yell out, “No mercy!” in the second set as Swiatek was reeling off the last 11 games after the match was tied at 1-all early with not a cloud in the sky and the temperature approaching 80 degrees.
“I think it was a little bit of her playing well, and me not playing so well,” Raducanu said. “That combination is probably not good.”
Fair.
Swiatek, who agreed to accept a one-month suspension in a doping case late last year, owns four trophies from the French Open and one from the U.S. Open. But she’s never been beyond the semifinals in Australia; she lost in that round to Danielle Collins in 2022.
A year ago, Swiatek was upset in the third round by teenager Linda Noskova.
Swiatek, who said she dedicated Saturday’s win to her grandfather, has ceded a total of only 10 games through three matches with new coach Wim Fissette sitting courtside. Next up will be 128th-ranked Eva Lys of Germany, who lost in qualifying but was given a spot in the main draw when someone withdrew about 10 minutes before her first-round match.
Lys defeated Jaqueline Cristian, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, and is the first “lucky loser” to get to the Australian Open’s fourth round since the tournament moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.
Others who now will get a chance to play for a quarterfinal berth after victories Saturday included No. 6 Elena Rybakina, No. 8 Emma Navarro and No. 9 Daria Kasatkina. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, beat No. 32 Dayana Yastremska, 6-3, 6-4. Navarro eliminated three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Kasatkina got past No. 24 Yulia Putintseva, 7-5, 6-1.
Navarro, who reached her first major semifinal at Flushing Meadows in September, has now won all three of her matches in Melbourne this year in three sets.
That means she has been involved in 30 tour-level three-setters since the start of last season, the most of any female player.
“I love three sets. I love tennis so much, I can’t resist,” joked Navarro, who grew up in South Carolina and won an NCAA singles title at the University of Virginia. “I just wanted to stick in there and keep believing in myself.”