MELBOURNE, Australia — Taylor Fritz confirmed simply how dramatically life has modified for each he and Jenson Brooksby since their final Grand Slam assembly when Fritz took lower than two hours to clinch their first-round match on the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Fritz is seeded fourth, was the US Open runner-up final yr and helped the U.S. group win the United Cup in Sydney final week.
He wanted simply 1¾ hours for a 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 win at John Cain Area in opposition to fellow American Brooksby, who was taking part in his first occasion at any degree in two years.
Brooksby has a protected rating of No. 52 after surgical procedure on each wrists in 2023 and that helped him get a spot in the primary draw on the yr’s first main.
He saved a match level with a lunging, angled backhand winner when he was nearly down on one knee. However in any other case, it actually was over shortly.
Brooksby, 24, gained his solely earlier match in opposition to Fritz on the 2021 US Open, the place he reached the fourth spherical as a wild-card entry.
Now, whereas he is considering his subsequent transfer on the highway again to a rating, will probably be Fritz aiming to maintain shifting by the rounds at Melbourne Park, the place he reached the quarterfinals final yr. It was a run that set him on track for fulfillment in 2024.
“I suppose that first match within the Slam there is a little bit of nerves,” Fritz stated, “So I did a very good job.”
Days after Gael Monfils grew to become the oldest participant to win an ATP Tour title, the 38-year-old tour veteran outdueled up-and-coming fellow Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Monfils wasted match factors within the third set and on Mpetshi Perricard’s serve within the fifth earlier than lastly clinching a 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory.
Monfils stated he often tries to keep away from fascinated about age gaps with rivals, “however I can inform you that tomorrow morning I will likely be (feeling) extra 48 than 38.”
Monfils and the 21-year-old Mpetshi Perricard entered the match at reverse ends of the profession spectrum, however share a ardour for his or her sport. Each use between-the-legs pictures at instances throughout rallies, and generally take the unconventional method to organising factors.
With a profession document of 34-18 because the Australian Open, the place he reached the quarterfinals in 2016 and 2022, Monfils had the benefit in opposition to a participant on debut at Melbourne Park.
Mpetshi Perricard had by no means superior past the primary spherical at any main aside from Wimbledon (the place he reached the fourth spherical as a fortunate loser final yr) however he was seeded thirtieth after a breakout yr in 2024 that included two titles.
Monfils, who has gained extra Grand Slam singles matches than another French man, now additionally has a 20-19 win-loss document in five-set matches.
After successful the trophy in Auckland, he stated “I have been having fun with myself because the first day I performed tennis and (at) 60 years previous I’ll nonetheless have this pleasure.”
Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti confirmed up with out his man bun, and wound up successful his first-round match by, um, a hair.
The Sixteenth-seeded Musetti, a Wimbledon semifinalist final July and Paris Olympics bronze medalist final August, wanted 4 hours, 6 minutes to get previous countryman Matteo Arnaldi 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
“For now, the brief hair had begin in Australia. Let’s hope it may well carry me luck,” Musetti stated. “It is a new look. But when I hadn’t had such lengthy hair for such a very long time, individuals would not even have seen it.”
In different early males’s outcomes, No. 19 Karen Khachanov superior over Adrian Mannarino, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-3, and Matteo Berrettini beat Cameron Norrie 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
It was Berrettini’s first win at Melbourne Park since his semifinal run in 2022.
“It has been a very long time since I gained a match right here,” stated Berrettini, who suffered a first-round loss in 2023 and missed the Slam final yr.
He subsequent faces Denmark’s Holger Rune, the No. 13 seed who superior regardless of a roller-coaster match to beat China’s Zhang Zhizhen 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
“Very thrilling match. We performed twice final yr, two three-set matches [at Masters events]. Fortunately I bought to win these two however let’s examine,” Rune stated.
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.