MELBOURNE, Jan 19 — Veteran Frenchman Gael Monfils rolled back the years with a vintage display of shot-making to thrash unpredictable Kazakh Alexander Bublik 6-1 6-0 6-4 and reach the Australian Open third round today.
The evening crowd on Margaret Court Arena were treated to some stupendous rallies between two of the sport’s great entertainers and the only shame was it did not last longer.
Monfils, the 17th seed, played almost perfect tennis to romp through the first two sets and although Bublik made more of a contest of it in the third set, and had point to break back in the eighth game, the damage was already done.
It has been an encouraging start to the year for Monfils who recently married top women’s player Elina Svitolina and his form is in stark contrast to a year ago when he made a tearful exit first-round exit from the Australian Open.
After that loss to Finnish player Emil Ruusuvuori he said he felt trapped in a “nightmare” as he tried to rediscover the form that once took made him a regular in the world’s top 10.
But after taking only one hour and 29 minutes to beat Bublik, the 35-year-old looks close to his best again.
Monfils struck 34 winners and treated the crowd to his full repertoire of gravity-defying slides, trick shots and powerful groundtstrokes and serves.
“I just felt good, amazing atmosphere, good vibes, good crowd,” Monfils, who won the Adelaide warm-up event said on court. “I was moving fast and serving great, a couple of trick shots so everything’s good, I’m on.
“I had a tough time but now I really feel good, great, strong.”
Monfils will now face Chilean claycourt specialist Christian Garin, the 16th seed, in the third round. — Reuters
