{"id":78202,"date":"2025-01-14T02:36:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T07:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=78202"},"modified":"2025-01-14T02:36:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T07:36:57","slug":"gael-monfils-the-victor-in-five-set-thriller-in-australian-open-first-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/14\/gael-monfils-the-victor-in-five-set-thriller-in-australian-open-first-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Gael Monfils Outlasts Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in Battle of the French"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a captivating all-French first-round encounter at the 2025 Australian Open, veteran Gael Monfils, aged 38, triumphed over 21-year-old compatriot Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a grueling five-set battle. Monfils secured the victory with a scoreline of 7-6 6-3 6-7 6-7 6-4, relying on his vast experience and mental toughness to outlast Perricard\u2019s powerful serving.<\/p>\n<p>His Auckland title, where he became the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/01\/11\/gael-monfils-auckland\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">oldest ATP Tour champion since Roger Federer<\/a>, seems to have provide Monfils with the perfect momentum for Melbourne. The confidence from that win was evident in his composure during crucial moments, especially when Perricard won back-to-back tiebreaks in the third and fourth sets to keep the match alive. Monfils\u2019 ability to stay mentally sharp, even after squandering match points, can be partly attributed to the self-belief he regained from his title run, as well as his vast experience.<\/p>\n<p>Perricard, seeded 30th, delivered a strong performance with 19 aces and flashes of brilliance, but Monfils\u2019 court coverage and tactical adjustments ultimately proved the difference. This hard-fought win reinforces the perception Monfils as a dangerous floater in the draw, with his Auckland success signaling he still has the form and endurance to challenge the ATP\u2019s rising stars.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"deNybKK2Rhh8K5gWbV870w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2193349759\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'deNybKK2Rhh8K5gWbV870w',sig:'BzXIll_U5-Xbdl0OkPR-n0u59EXQBwq09UbURORfHhc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2193349759',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Monfils displayed remarkable resilience and sharp reactions throughout the match, particularly when facing Mpetshi Perricard\u2019s powerful serves, which reached speeds up to 230 km\/h. Despite the challenge of facing an opponent firing down serves at that speed, Monfils managed to secure an early break and maintained his composure, even after double-faulting on two match points during the third-set tiebreak. His agility and tactical prowess were evident, especially when he executed a stunning forehand passing shot that captivated the 3,000-strong crowd.<\/p>\n<p>This victory adds to Monfils\u2019 impressive record, following his recent title win at the ASB Classic in Auckland, where he became the oldest ATP Tour title winner, surpassing Roger Federer\u2019s previous record.\u00a0On the other hand, Mpetshi Perricard, seeded 30th, showcased his potential and power, particularly with his serving capabilities, delivering 19 aces during the match.<\/p>\n<p>His performance indicates a promising future, despite the loss to the experienced Monfils but he will doubtless be disappointment. Still, we can expect Mpetshi Perricard to come again. In the meantime, Monfils&#8217; victory has set up an exciting second-round match against either Daniel Atmaier or Francisco Comesana, as the Frenchman continues to defy age and expectations, demonstrating that experience and determination remain formidable assets on the tennis court.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a captivating all-French first-round encounter at the 2025 Australian Open, veteran Gael Monfils, aged 38, triumphed over 21-year-old compatriot Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a grueling five-set battle. Monfils secured the victory with a scoreline of 7-6 6-3 6-7 6-7 6-4, relying on his vast experience and mental toughness to outlast Perricard\u2019s powerful serving. His [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4590,"featured_media":66430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[42694,4163,144,18755,114],"class_list":["post-78202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-australian-open","tag-2025-australian-open","tag-atp-auckland","tag-gael-monfils","tag-giovanni-mpetshi-perricard","tag-roger-federer"],"modified_by":"Jim Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4590"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78202"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78206,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78202\/revisions\/78206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}