French men’s tennis was braced for its worst Roland Garros performance of the modern era on Thursday when Gael Monfils became the 17th of 18 players who started the event to exit before the French Open third round.
World number 15 Monfils was defeated by Sweden’s 105th-ranked Mikael Ymer 6-0, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
That left only fellow 34-year-old Richard Gasquet still standing and he has to defeat 13-time champion Rafael Nadal later Thursday to salvage national pride.
If he fails — and he has a 0-16 record against the 20-time major winner — it will be the first time since the Open era began in 1968 that no French player has reached the third round of the men’s singles in Paris.
Ymer, 22, is the first Swedish man to make the last 32 since two-time runner-up Robin Soderling in 2011.
He will face either 18th seed Jannik Sinner or Gianluca Mager for a last-16 spot.
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