Gael Monfils earned his first Madrid Open victory since 2022, and at age 38 became the oldest player to win a match at the event with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Croatia’s Borna Gojo on Wednesday.
The two-time quarterfinalist continued his success at the event, rallying from a one-sided, 21-minute loss in the first set to record six aces and save 70 percent of break points.
“I [let the] storm pass, then different tactics,” the Frenchman said. “I served more with kick and tried to play a little bit different, maybe let him go and not do so much. At the end, just run, run to the ball. It’s not a pretty win, but it’s a win.”
He advances to face No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia, who had a bye.
Meanwhile, ATP No. 41 Nuno Borges of Portugal defeated Spain’s Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 6-3, setting up another match vs. a Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The winner of that match likely will face No. 1 Alexander Zverev of Germany, who will still have to get past Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut, a 2-1 winner over fellow countryman Jaume Munar on Wednesday.
The top American in the field, No. 3 Taylor Fritz, will face Australia’s Christopher O’Connell on Friday after O’Connell defeated Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-3, 6-0 Wednesday.
No. 8 seed Holger Rune of Denmark also learned his opponent for Friday when Italy’s Flavio Cobolli advanced with a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
Other winners Wednesday included France’s Benjamin Bonzi (2-0 vs. Marin Cilic), Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik (2-0 vs. Alex Michelsen), Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo (2-1 vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic) and Italy’s Federico Cina (2-0 vs. Coleman Wong).
Francisco Comesana, Laslo Djere, Harold Mayot, Mariano Navone, Sebastian Ofner, Ethan Quinn and Arthur Rinderknech were also winners.
–Field Level Media
