Melbourne (AFP)

As he says himself, Gaël Monfils was "torn apart" Monday in the knockout stages of the Australian Open by Dominic Thiem, but he refuses to put this defeat in the account of the shock received a few hours before the match upon learning of the death of his idol Kobe Bryant.

With "La Monf" (10th in the world), beaten for the 6th time in 6 games by the Austrian (5th) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, disappears the last of the 18 French entered in Melbourne (13 in the male table and 5 in the female). All his compatriots had been eliminated after the second round.

"I didn't necessarily make a good match. He made a solid match. There was a lot of waste on my return," said Monfils, while admitting to having had "a lot of difficulty keeping up the cadence that he (Thiem) imposed ".

The observation is there for Monfils: "he was stronger than me". I struggled to impose anything ", he summed up, adding in the process" but there is no dead man ... "

Because the Parisian was still reeling from the death, a few hours before his match, of his idol Kobe Bryant in a helicopter accident in California.

- "50 messages" -

"When I woke up, I had 50 messages from all my friends. We spent an hour with Elina (Svitolina his world partner N.5) trying to understand, to watch. We were shocked. It was someone one that we admired a lot, "said the basketball fanatic.

Thiem, meanwhile, believes he played "a very, very good game, from start to finish".

"Yesterday already (Sunday, editor's note) in training and this morning during the warm-up I felt my strikes well," he said. During the entire meeting, in fact, he forced Monfils to deploy tactical treasures and tennis jewelry to overflow him. Impossible for the French to maintain this level on all points.

The Austrian, who announced in Melbourne that he has separated from his coach Thomas Muster after two weeks of collaboration, will face the German Alexander Zverev (7th) or the Russian Andrey Rublev (16th) for a place in the last square.

Twice finalist at Roland-Garros (2018 and 2019), his best Grand Slam result, Thiem had never yet passed the knockout stages in Melbourne.

- Halep N.2 -

In the women's table, Simona Halep and Anett Kontaveit made an appointment in quarters.

Halep (3rd) dismissed Belgian Elise Mertens (17th) 6-4, 6-4 and will become, thanks to this victory, N.2 world after the tournament.

"I had to calm down (at the end of the match) because when I get nervous, I lose my head a bit ...", said the Romanian.

At 28, the former world N.1 reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the 14th time in his career. Twice (Roland-Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019), it has won the title.

She reached the final in Melbourne in 2018 and was eliminated in 8th last year.

For his part Kontaveit (31st) eliminated the Polish Iga Swiatek (56th) 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 7-5, and will play at 24 her first quarterfinal of the Grand Slam.

"What a fight! I'm glad I got through it. I'm still shaking," she said before leaving the court.

The Spanish Garbine Muguruza, 32nd in the world, had not reached the quarters in Melbourne since 2017. It is now done after his victory over the Dutch Kiki Bertens (10th) 6-3, 6-3.

"The first day, I was not very comfortable. But I am improving every lap," welcomed the ex-world No.1 who will face the German Angelique Kerber (18th) or the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (30th) for a place in the last square. She has never reached the semi-finals in Melbourne in seven appearances.

While Daniil Medvedev, finalist of the last US Open, struggled against Stan Warinka in the afternoon, the highlight of the show for this 8th day was scheduled for the evening: an electric duel between Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios.

© 2020 AFP