Australian Open: Monfils outlasts Mpetshi Perricard in five

Gael Monfils won against No 30 seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-4 to reach the second round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

Monfils – who won the Auckland title on Saturday and is 17 years older than Mpetshi Perricard – held two match points in the third set, but was unable to capitalise.

However, he was brilliant on serve, not facing a single break point across the five sets, winning 84 percent of first serve points and landing just one ace less than his countryman, who is known for his booming serve.

The veteran’s ability to hold his own form the back of the court and play error-free tennis was another key to his success, with Monfils making just 34 unforced errors to Mpetshi Perricard’s 61 over the course of the three-hour, 46-minute match.

While Mpetshi Perricard was unable to walk away victorious, he hit what will likely go down as one of the shots of the tournament, executing a front-facing tweener volley lob at 0-1 in the fourth set tiebreak.

Monfils, ranked No 41, will face the winner of the match between Argentinian Francisco Comesana and German Daniel Altmaier next.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Andrey Rublev vs. Joao Fonseca
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Corentin Moutet
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Alex De Minaur
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Kamil Majchrzak
• Marcos Giron vs. Yannick Hanfmann
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Flavio Cobolli
• Rinky Hijikata vs. Mitchell Krueger
• Tristan Boyer vs. Federico Coria: tuesday
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Stan Wawrinka: tuesday
• Ben Shelton vs. Brandon Nakashima: tuesday
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Lorenzo Musetti: tuesday
• Francisco Comesana vs. Daniel Altmaier: tuesday
• Kasidit Samrej vs. Daniil Medvedev: tuesday
• Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Zizou Bergs: tuesday
• Hubert Hurkacz (18) beat Tallon Griekspoor: 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
• Francisco Cerundolo (31) beat Alexander Bublik: 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-2
• Cristian Garin (Q) beat Borna Coric: 7-5, 6-1, 6-2
• Learner Tien (Q) beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli: 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Taylor Fritz (4) beat Jenson Brooksby: 6-2, 6-0, 6-3
• Holger Rune (13) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
• Karen Khachanov (19) beat Adrian Mannarino: 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-3
• Gabriel Diallo beat Luca Nardi: 6-7 (1), 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
• Matteo Berrettini beat Cameron Norrie: 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Dusan Lajovic: 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
• Tommy Paul (12) beat Christopher O’Connell: 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-5
• Francesco Passaro (LL) beat Grigor Dimitrov (10): 7-5, 2-1 ret.
• Benjamin Bonzi beat David Goffin: 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (7)
• Jacob Fearnley beat Nick Kyrgios: 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• Novak Djokovic (7) beat Nishesh Basavareddy (WC): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-1, 7-5, 6-1
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Juncheng Shang: 7-6 (1), 5-2 ret.
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (29) beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-3, 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
• Jaime Faria (Q) beat Pavel Kotov: 6-1, 6-1, 7-5
• Sebastian Korda (22) beat Lukas Klein (Q): 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Yoshihito Nishioka beat Aziz Dougaz (Q): 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Arthur Cazaux beat Sebastian Baez (28): 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3
• Thanasi Kokkinakis beat Roman Safiullin: 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Jack Draper (15) beat Mariano Navone: 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Aleksandar Vukic beat Damir Dzumhur: 6-7 (3), 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Tristan Schoolkate (WC) beat Taro Daniel: 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-4
• Jordan Thompson (27) beat Dominik Koepfer (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Nicolas Jarry: 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-1
• James McCabe (WC) beat Martin Landaluce (Q): 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
• James Duckworth beat Dominic Stricker: 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
• Fabian Marozsan beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 5-7, 7-5
• Nuno Borges beat Alexandre Muller: 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2, 7-5
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Alejandro Tabilo (23): 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (1)
• Jakub Mensik beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (Q): 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3
• Frances Tiafoe (17) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 7-6 (2), 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3
• Alex Michelsen beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (11): 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
• Alexander Zverev (2) beat Lucas Pouille (WC): 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Quentin Halys beat Adam Walton: 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-5
• Reilly Opelka beat Gauthier Onclin (Q): 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (14) beat Matteo Gigante (Q): 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-4
• Pedro Martinez Portero beat Luciano Darderi: 6-3, 4-1 ret.
• Tomas Machac (26) beat Sumit Nagal: 6-3, 6-1, 7-5
• Jiri Lehecka (24) beat Li Tu (WC): 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1)
• Hady Habib (Q) beat Yunchaokete Bu: 7-6 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Casper Ruud (6) beat Jaume Munar: 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
• Kei Nishikori beat Thiago Monteiro (Q): 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Arthur Fils (20) beat Otto Virtanen: 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4
• Hugo Gaston beat Omar Jasika (WC): 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2