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France's Gael Monfils was satisfied with the way he performed against qualifier world No. 256 Ernests Gulbis at the Australian Open on Saturday. Monfils, seeded at No. 10, handed a straight-set defeat to former world No.
10 Gulbis 7-6 (2) 6-4 6-3 to reach the round-of-16 at Melbourne Park. Monfils found himself down by a break early in the first set but he broke back Gulbis, before winning the tie-break to steal the opener. The Frenchman then claimed two breaks in each of the following two sets and lost his serve once en route to earning a straight-set win.
"I'm very happy the way I played today," Monfils said, per the ATP Tour. "It was a great atmosphere again today, so thank you so much. I feel great." Monfils, who made the quarterfinal at Melbourne Park in 2016, hopes this Australian Open campaign turns out to be special.
The Frenchman will have to beat No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem in order to reach his second quarterfinal at Melbourne Park. "Always we say the second week [of a Grand Slam] is special, so I hope this one will be special for me," Monfils added.