Melbourne (AFP)

Gaël Monfils (10th in the world) defeated with public support the Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic (124th) 4-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-4, 7-5, Thursday in the 2nd round of the Open Australia.

The Frenchman, who remains in the Grand Slam in a quarterfinal at the US Open, will face the Latvian Ernests Gulbis (ex-world No.10 dropped to 256th and coming from qualifications) for a place in 8th in Melbourne.

Against Karlovic, Monfils lost his service from the start of the match and never managed to catch up in the first round.

In the second, the two men stood until the tie-break and the Frenchman concluded on his third set ball, not without having saved a ball from two sets to zero for his opponent.

Building on good service (41% of faceoffs were not returned to him), Monfils stood up to Karlovic and tightened the game to make the break 4-3 in the 3rd round and 6-5 in the 4th.

Quarter-finalist in Melbourne in 2016, Monfils had lost in 8th in 2017 and had been eliminated in the 2nd round for the last two years.

© 2020 AFP