Gaël Monfils was made "Tearing" according to his words, in the knockout stages of the Australian Open by Dominic Thiem on Monday (January 27th), but he refused to blame the shock received hours before the match when he learned of the death of his idol Kobe Bryant.
With "La Monf" (10e Austrian), beaten for the sixth time in six games by the Austrian (5e) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, disappears the last of the eighteen Frenchmen entered in Melbourne (thirteen in the men's table and five in the women's). All of his compatriots had been eliminated after the second round.
"I didn't necessarily make a good match. He made a solid match. There was a lot of garbage on my return ”, said Monfils, while acknowledging having "Very hard to keep up with it (Thiem) required. " The observation is there for Monfils: "He was stronger than me. I had a hard time imposing anything, " he summed up, adding in stride "But no man died" …
The Parisian was still reeling from the death, hours before the match, of his idol Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash in California. "When I woke up, I had fifty messages from all my friends. We spent an hour with Elina (Svitolina, his partner, number 5 worldwide) trying to understand, to look. We were shocked. He was someone we admired a lot ", explained this basketball fanatic.
Medvedev releases Wawrinka
Thiem, for his part, believes he has played “A very, very good game from start to finish. Already yesterday (Sunday) in training and this morning at the warm-up I felt my strikes ", he stressed. During the entire meeting, in fact, he forced Monfils to deploy tactical treasures and tennis jewelry to overflow him. Impossible for the French to maintain this level on all points.
The Austrian, who announced in Melbourne that he has separated from his coach Thomas Muster after two weeks of collaboration, will face the Spaniard Rafael Nadal (1st) or the Australian Nick Kyrgios (23e) for a place in the last square. Twice finalist at Roland-Garros (2018 and 2019), his best Grand Slam result, Thiem had never yet reached the knockout stages in Melbourne.
Daniil Medvedev of Russia, 4e and finalist of the last US Open, was eliminated by the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (15e) after a five-set bout (6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2). Wawrinka, won in Melbourne in 2014, will face German Alexander Zverev (7e) or the Russian Andrey Rublev (16e) for a place in the last square.
Halep, Muguruza and Kontaveit in quarters
In the women's table, Simona Halep and Anett Kontaveit made an appointment in quarters.
Halep (3e) dismissed the Belgian Elise Mertens (17e) in two sets (6-4, 6-4) and will become again, thanks to this victory, number 2 in the world after the tournament. "I had to calm down (at the end of the match) because when I get nervous, I lose my head a little… ”, commented the Romanian. The 28-year-old former world number one reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the fourteenth time in his career. Twice (Roland-Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019), it won the title. She reached the final in Melbourne in 2018 and was eliminated in eighths last year.
For his part, Kontaveit (31e) eliminated the Polish Iga Swiatek (56e) 6-7, 7-5, 7-5, and will play their first Grand Slam quarterfinal at 24 years of age. "What a fight! I'm glad I got out of it. I'm still trembling ", said before leaving the court the first Estonian to reach this level in Major.
Garbiñe Muguruza, 32e world, had not reached the quarters in Melbourne since 2017. It is now done after his victory over the Dutch Kiki Bertens (10e) 6-3, 6-3. "The first day, I was not very comfortable. But I am improving every turn ", welcomed the ex-world number one, who will face the German Angelique Kerber (18e) or the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (30e) for a place in the last square. She has never reached the semifinals in Melbourne in seven appearances.
