Monfils thrills Roland-Garros crowd with late-night comeback

Frenchman Gael Monfils advanced to the second round of Roland-Garros in dramatic fashion, coming back from two-sets-to-love down to beat Hugo Dellien 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-1 in Paris on Tuesday evening.

In a match that had shades of Monfils’ victory over Sebastian Baez on these grounds two years ago – where he won in five after falling behind 0-4 in the fourth set – the 38-year-old was almost unable to continue just points into the contest.

The veteran took a nasty fall into some of the court-side signage on the fifth point of the match, triggering a medical timeout and obviously impacting his movement.

However, he continued playing, finding his range in the third set and riding the momentum home as the French crowd willed him to an emphatic comeback just after midnight local time.

Monfils now holds the record for the most five-set victories in the Open Era at Roland-Garros, having gone the distance and won 12 times in Paris. This was just the third time across all tournaments that he had come back after losing the opening two sets, however.

Monfils, ranked No 42, will play No 5 seed Jack Draper next.

Paris (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 56.352.000, most recent results first):

• Joao Fonseca beat Hubert Hurkacz (30): 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
• Corentin Moutet beat Clement Tabur (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3
• Flavio Cobolli beat Marin Cilic (LL): 6-2, 6-1, 6-3
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (29): 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Jack Draper beat Mattia Bellucci: 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (17) beat Lloyd Harris (Q): 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
• Novak Djokovic (6) beat Mackenzie McDonald: 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
• Henrique Rocha (Q) beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (Q): 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 (9), 2-6, 6-2
• Pierre-Hugues Herbert (WC) beat Benjamin Bonzi: 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Adam Walton beat Maximilian Marterer (Q): 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2
• Jakub Mensik (19) beat Alexandre Muller: 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3
• Jesper De Jong beat Francesco Passaro: 3-6, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-1
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Learner Tien: 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
• Alexander Bublik beat James Duckworth: 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
• Ethan Quinn (Q) beat Grigor Dimitrov (16): 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 ret.
• Federico Agustin Gomez (LL) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
• Cameron Norrie beat Daniil Medvedev (11): 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5
• Alexander Shevchenko (LL) beat Dusan Lajovic: 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Alex De Minaur (9) beat Laslo Djere: 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6)
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Marcos Giron: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
• Jaume Munar beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli: 6-4, 6-1, 7-5
• Ugo Humbert (22) beat Christopher O’Connell: 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Filip Misolic (Q) beat Yunchaokete Bu: 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-1
• Arthur Fils (14) beat Nicolas Jarry: 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3
• Denis Shapovalov (27) beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-2, 6-0, 6-3
• Richard Gasquet (WC) beat Terence Atmane (WC): 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
• Sebastian Ofner beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2
• Gabriel Diallo beat Francisco Cerundolo (18): 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
• Jiri Lehecka beat Jordan Thompson: 6-4, 6-2, 6-1
• Karen Khachanov (24) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Jacob Fearnley beat Stan Wawrinka (WC): 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2
• Holger Rune (10) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (20) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
• Daniel Altmaier beat Taylor Fritz (4): 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (26) beat Pablo Llamas Ruiz (Q): 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3
• Carlos Alcaraz (2) beat Giulio Zeppieri (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Hugo Gaston beat Ugo Blanchet (Q): 2-6, 6-0, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Alexei Popyrin (25) beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 7-5, 6-4, 1-2 ret.
• Alejandro Tabilo beat Arthur Cazaux (WC): 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
• Casper Ruud (7) beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Sebastian Korda (23) beat Luciano Darderi: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Sebastian Baez: 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Nuno Borges beat Kyrian Jacquet (Q): 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
• Quentin Halys beat Tomas Machac (21): 7-6 (4), 4-1 ret.
• Ben Shelton (13) beat Lorenzo Sonego: 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
• Jenson Brooksby beat Jaime Faria: 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Emilio Nava (WC) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 6-2, 7-5, 7-5
• Matteo Gigante (Q) beat Benjamin Hassan (Q): 6-4, 6-2, 6-0
• Fabian Marozsan beat Luca Nardi: 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Frances Tiafoe (15) beat Roman Safiullin: 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
• Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Q) beat Alex Michelsen (32): 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
• Daniel Elahi Galan (LL) beat Valentin Royer (WC): 7-6 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 7-5
• Lorenzo Musetti (8) beat Yannick Hanfmann (Q): 7-5, 6-2, 6-0
• Vit Kopriva beat Thiago Monteiro: 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 6-1
• Damir Dzumhur beat Thiago Agustin Tirante (LL): 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5
• Pablo Carreno Busta beat Francisco Comesana: 6-2, 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Reilly Opelka beat Rinky Hijikata: 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (31) beat Zizou Bergs: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Tommy Paul (12) beat Elmer Moller (LL): 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3, 6-1
• Hamad Medjedovic beat Kamil Majchrzak: 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• Marton Fucsovics beat Tristan Schoolkate (WC): 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Mariano Navone beat Brandon Nakashima (28): 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2