Frenchman Gaël Monfils, 20th in the world, qualified for the round of 16 of the Australian Open on Friday by dominating Chilean Cristian Garin (19th) 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-3 .
Gaël Monfils will face Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (77th) on Sunday for a place in the quarter-finals. Kecmanovic should have been Novak Djokovic’s first opponent, but the world No. 1 was expelled from Australia the day before the start of the tournament.
Facing the Chilean Christian Garin, the 35-year-old Frenchman quickly managed the break, to break away 3-1. But in the next game, he rolled on the ground after presumably twisting his right ankle.
Grimacing, he spent a few seconds sitting before resuming the game. Physically well, it took him several games to fully return to the game. Time for Garin to catch up, push the Frenchman into a decisive game and take the lead 4-1.
From there, Monfils scored 6 points in a row to conclude the set and take the match in hand, while the Chilean seemed deprived of solutions and committed a lot of unforced errors (45 in total).