No. 30 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina will face French veteran Gael Monfils in the Australian Open second round on Wednesday (local time).

 

The winner of the second round match will advance to face either top-seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia or Alexei Popyrin of Australia in the third round. 

 

Gael Monfils endured a long injury layoff as he recovered from a right foot injury. Shortly after making his comeback last March, the Frenchman suffered back-to-back wrist injuries and was forced to miss out a big part of the 2023 season. 

 

Nevertheless, Monfils enjoyed a remarkable end of the year when he clinched his 12^th ATP title at the Stockholm Open - his first final since January 2022, when Monfils triumphed at the Adelaide International. 

Twenty years from making his debut on the ATP World Tour, Gael Monfils is now bidding to produce another memorable campaign before his ever-approaching retirement from professional tennis.

 

Monfils will turn 38 in September and we strongly doubt that he has many more seasons to play, at least not on the grand stage. 

 

Having missed the 2023 edition (due to the aforementioned injury), Monfils reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park in 2022 to equal his best Australian Open performance - he already reached the quarterfinals in 2016. 

 

Gael Monfils was on the losing side in a spectacular five-setter against Matteo Berrettini of Italy in the Australian Open quarter-finals two years ago. 

 

The Frenchman lost the opening two sets 6-4, 6-4, yet he managed to bounce back and won the following two 6-3, 6-3. However, the Italian reacted to see off Monfils in the fifth set, canceling Monfils' hopes for a first Major semi-final since 2016.

 

Monfils kicked-off the new season at the Auckland Open, where he lost his first-round match (4-6, 7-6, 6-7) to Fabian Marozsan of Hungary. 

 

Gael Monfils began his 18^th Australian Open campaign with a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Yannick Hanfmann of Germany in the opening round. 

 

Tomas Martin Etcheverry already stunned another veteran as he breezed past Great Britain's Andy Murray 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the Australian Open first round. Etcheverry took control of the match from the beginning and allowed Andy Murray to win only eight games throughout the entire contest.

 

The 24-year-old Argentine didn't really had an ideal preparation in the lead-up tournaments to the Australian Open. Tomas Martin Etcheverry started with first round exits at the Brisbane International and Adelaide International to Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic and Alexander Shevchenko of Russia, respectively (both of them in three sets).

 

Still looking for his maiden tour-level title, Tomas Martin Etcheverry reached his first ATP finals (both on clay) in 2023. Yet, the Argentine wasn't able to win either of them as he played out five tie-breaks to ultimately lose to the likes of Nicolas Jarry and Frances Tiafoe at the Chile Open and the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, respectively. 

 

Like the vast majority of South American tennis players, Tomas Martin Etcheverry is recognized for his clay-court proficiency. He hasn't been really active on hard courts but his recent victory over Andy Murray - second within a couple of months - is a statement. Etcheverry already beat Murray in the second round of the Basel Open last year.

 

Having reached the French Open quarter-finals last season, the Argentine is yet to flourish on a different surface. With limited experience on non-clay surfaces before last year, The Argentine went outside his comfort zone.

 

In addition to his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final, Etcheverry exhibited steady development throughout his breakout campaign in 2023, recording quarter final appearances at hardcourt tournaments in Zhuhai (in September) and Basel (in October).

 

Between the two mentioned quarterfinals, Etcheverry also claimed a comeback victory over South African Lloyd Harris and won a set against Casper Ruud at the China Open. 

 

At the Basel Open, Etcheverry fought hard against top-seed Holger Rune of Denmark in the quarter-finals and he lost the match after a third set tie break. 

 

The Argentine concluded the year with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia and a second round defeat to Novak Djokovic at the Paris Masters. 

 

Both players have never met before and a first meeting between them should favor the more experienced, though Tomas Martin Etcheverry has been steadily progressing over the past months and certainly has the ability to challenge the French veteran.

 

Some years ago, Gael Monfils would've probably been too good for Tomas Martin Etcheverry on hard courts. However, it is still unknown how Monfils' body would respond to exhausting matches (especially five-setters) as the Frenchman couldn't win back-to-back matches in any of the two Majors he entered in 2023 and struggled physically in the only five-setter played against Sebastian Baez of Argentina at the French Open, as he was forced to withdrew from the tournament before his second round clash with Holger Rune.