Monfils Achieves Career Milestone In Opener

Gael Monfils celebrated a career milestone and etched his name in French tennis history during his Roland Garros opener on Tuesday. The affable Frenchman won his 400^th tour-level match, needing only 89 minutes to prevail against German Dustin Brown 6-4, 7-5, 6-0.

He becomes only the sixth Frenchman to have won 400 tour-level contests:

400 career wins achieved today at #RG17 by @Gael_Monfils! ?

We’ve been treated to some special moments over the years…#TrickshotTuesday pic.twitter.com/s2iDwmxY3x

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 30, 2017

Monfils won 70 per cent (14/20) of his net points to win his first clay-court match of the season and advance to the second round. The 30-year-old right-hander lost his opener at the BMW Open by FWU in Munich (Chung) and at the Mutua Madrid Open (Simon). Monfils had to withdraw from the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome because of a left knee injury.

“I felt quite okay today. It wasn’t easy for me to get back on shape, because I was really struggling a lot with my body the last few weeks. It was very tough for me to be almost 100 per cent,” Monfils said.

His best showing at his home Grand Slam came in 2008, when he reached the semi-finals before falling to Roger Federer. The Frenchman will next meet Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, who beat 20-year-old French wild card Alexandre Muller 7-6(4), 2-6, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-0 in three hours and 43 minutes.

“I think it’s probably been the three-and-a-half most intensive hours of my career,” Muller said. “I enjoyed it. I did my very best. I wish I could have won this match since this is my first participation here. Honestly, I have no regrets. I did have a few tears because the atmosphere was amazing. At the very end, well, I realised I was going to lose, it got very emotional. But I really got a kick out of the moment, too.”

2 showmen sur le court mais un seul vainqueur. Et il s’appelle @Gael_Monfils !
Victoire en 3 sets contre Dustin Brown #RG17 pic.twitter.com/inyRvhaIkX

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 30, 2017

Monfils’ countryman 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will serve to stay in the match when his first-round contest against Argentine Renzo Olivo finishes on Wednesday. Darkness suspended the match with Olivo leading Tsonga, who won his first clay-court title on Saturday in Geneva, 7-5, 4-6, 6-7(6), 5-4.

Should the 25-year-old Argentine pull off the upset, it would be quite the turnaround for the World No. 91. Olivo has lost his past six tour-level matches and is 4-11 so far this season.

The winner of that match will meet Brit Kyle Edmund, who went 12 for 12 at the net to beat Portugal’s Gastao Elias 6-3, 6-2, 7-5. “I was just happy with my balance of play, the way I was thinking out there. When I was in a bit of trouble, I was able to regain momentum well,” Edmund said.

Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.