Lorenzo Musetti put in a solid all-round performance overcoming Gael Monfils 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 and the home crowd to reach the third round where he next faces world number one Novak Djokovic.

The 22-year-old was dominant in baseline exchanges, particularly on the forehand side where he regularly spread Monfils all over the court, while the speed of the French veteran’s groundstrokes visibly fell away as the match progressed.

The pair had faced off just once before with Monfils winning in straight sets on the indoor hard courts in Vienna three years ago, and as in yesterday’s match-up between Richard Gasquet and Jannik Sinner, there was also a fifteen-year age gap between the two players.

The match was scheduled for the prime-time evening slot, and with just seven spaces between them in the rankings it was expected to be a fairly even contest. However, in truth, the match was decided after the very tight opening set.

The flashy Frenchman Monfils, who has an even 12-12 win-loss record so far in 2024, was quickest out of the blocks. He stepped into the court taking the ball early to dominate the early exchanges and broke serve to go 2-1 up. However, the home player found himself in trouble at 0-40 down when 4-3 ahead and when Musetti hit a forehand crosscourt winner the scores were level at 4-4. 

Both players tested each other well in the next game but Musetti’s error at the net put him breakpoint down, and after an intense rally Monfils once again broke serve with his second passing shot to go 5-4 ahead. And again Monfils – who was once as high as six in the world – was unable to hold serve as he felt the pressure of the crowd and nerves crept in. He threw in two double faults along with two unforced errors and it was now five games all. Musetti, who won the 2019 junior Australian Open, won seven of the final eight points to win the set 7-5 in just under an hour with twelve winners overall.

Monfils, who looked physically drained at the end of the first set, was involved in many gruelling rallies at the start of the second and didn’t even chase some drop shots as he appeared to check out mentally. Musetti broke serve early to take a 3-0 lead, and again to go 5-1 up and took the set shortly afterwards in just 35 minutes.

A rejuvenated Monfils put in a far more determined effort in the third set and a couple of stunning winners woke the crowd up and they even took part in a Mexican wave at 2-1 up. But Musetti upped his game further constructing some beautiful points and holding serve easily. In fact, he only dropped one point on serve in the entire set and broke serve with the scores locked at 4-4. When Monfils hooked a forehand wide on the last point, the match was over in two hours and ten minutes.

Referring to the topsy-turvy game at 5-5 in the first set, Musetti said: “one point can make such a difference, especially in the best of five. I am really happy with my performance. It’s a tough challenge to play Gael, with the crowd on his side. I didn’t serve well in the first but in the second and third set I served really well and I’m really happy to be in the third round.”

The Italian, who played challenger events for extra match play before entering Roland Garros, holds a 1-4 head-to-head record against Djokovic including one match in the fourth round of the 2021 tournament where he was two sets to love up against the Serb before retiring at 4-0 down in the fifth. 

Richard Gasquet hasn’t ruled out a return to Roland Garros next year as his career draws closer to its finale.

The 37 year-old has had an epic 20 year career which continues to grow with Gasquet winning a match at Roland Garros this year, defeating Borna Coric.

However Gasquet’s Roland Garros campaign did end on Wednesday night as he lost in straight sets to Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner.

Speaking to French journalists after the match Gasquet commented on the match and admitted the match brought good emotions out of him, “It was a great emotion. There were a lot of people,” Gasquet stated in his post-match press conference.

“It’s great playing in the evening. There were a lot of people. And it’s the first time that I have been on the court in the evening. It’s very pleasant to play there. But the game was very fast on both sides. The balls were quite heavy in the evening. It’s less easy than in the day to spin the ball. It’s quite complicated. I didn’t serve very well, but of course he was better.”

This year’s Roland Garros was a landmark event for Gasquet as he won his first match at a Grand Slam since the US Open in 2022.

Gasquet spoke about how good it was to win a match at Grand Slam level and playing a player of Sinner’s quality but acknowledged he would like to do better against the best players in the world, “I haven’t won a Grand Slam match in quite a long time, and in Australia, too, so it’s good to be able to win this match and to play on the central court, on Chatrier,” the Frenchman stated.

“He is No. 2 in the world, so it is great. I hope that I can carry on playing a little bit longer at this level. But it’s true that, yeah, there are quite a few good things in this Roland Garros, but you always want to take a set, have a better service, do better from time to time, but generally speaking, he’s just a better player.”

Now Gasquet looks to the future as he has already proven once in his career that he can grind on the Challenger tour and increase his ranking.

The Frenchman is currently at 124 in the world and looks to boost his ranking over the next year.

When asked if Gasquet will be returning to Roland Garros, the Frenchman said that he’s taking it one match at a time and he does not know if he is approaching the end of his career, “I have no answer to that really. It’s month by month. It’s very hard to say or to know when you have to stop, so I don’t really know,” Gasquet stated.

“I’m just going to try and see, to try and climb up the ranking, in the first 100 at least, and I don’t know if it will be this year or next year. I have no idea. But of course more time goes by, and the closer it gets. But, you know, I can’t answer. It’s good to win a match here. It’s good for what’s to come next.

“But then you don’t know how you’re going to play, whether you might be injured. Everything is possible. So I’m going to try to carry on playing, though.

“Well, I try and push myself and push the boundaries. Quite a lot of physical training, as well, and try to be consistent and be very serious above everything on the outside. Yes, I’ve held out so far and I’m going to carry on in the same way and we’ll see how far it takes me.

“It’s fabulous to be playing on these two courts, Suzanne Lenglen and the central court. With the audience there it’s fabulous, so we’re going to try and continue. You don’t know what comes next, whether it’s in Bercy or next year here or before. It’s very difficult to know myself.

“When you lose two or three matches you say that you’re going to be stopping one week later and then you win a match, and, well, you want to continue a little bit. Then if I lose three times on grass, you never know. No, but I feel good. I feel good. But I’m not 25 years old anymore. But I don’t feel that bad.”

Gasquet will now head to the grass court season and will aim to improve his ranking by the time he return to Paris at the end of the year for the Masters 1000 event.

Stan Wawrinka says his desire to compete among the best in the world is still there after crashing out in the second round of the French Open. 

The 2015 champion was ousted by Russia’s Pavel Kotov 7-6(5), 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5), in a late-night showdown on Wednesday evening. It is the third year in a row that Wawrinka has failed to win back-to-back matches at the tournament. He has now made 19 main draw appearances in the French Open and is the oldest player to enter into the singles draw in this year’s event at the age of 39. 

Despite suffering a loss to world No.56 Kotov, the three-time Grand Slam champion later hailed the support he received from the crowd. 

“It’s the first time I’ve experienced such an atmosphere here,” Le Matin quoted Wawrinka as saying.
“There were a lot of fans who came after the end of the match on Philippe-Chatrier. There was a crazy atmosphere, I really felt like I was playing at home. It brings more memories and it makes me want to continue. Because experiencing that is very rare.”

This season some of Wawrinka’s rivals over the years are either playing their final French Open or have hinted that there is a good chance it may be their last. Dominic Thiem and Diego Schwartzman said farewell in the qualifying tournament. Then Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray made first round exits with both of them not fully committing to how much longer they will continue playing. Furthermore, Dutch player Botic van de Zandschulp confirmed he is considering his future in the sport and Richard Gasquet said on Wednesday ‘You never know when it’s going to happen‘ when asked how much longer he will continue playing. 

As for Wawrinka, who will turn 40 next March, he has no plans of stepping away from the sport soon as long as he can remain competitive on the court. 

“It’s in twelve months and at my age, we can’t see that far,” he said. 
“The desire is there and I think the level is too. We now have to win matches and maintain a certain ranking to be able to play this type of tournament.”

Should good luck fall on his side, Wawrinka might be returning to Roland Garros in the summer for the Olympic Games. However, he is currently ranked 98th in the world and faces tough opposition for a wild card. Up to two wild cards are up for grabs for former Grand Slam champions or gold medal winners. Also in contention are Nadal and Murray. 

“I would like to do them (the Olympics) but I would not have the required ranking. Someone will have to give me an invitation. I looked at the rules: if I have a little luck, it should go well. But I’m not sure.” He commented. 

Wawrinka’s Grand Slam win-loss record currently stands at 157–67.