Gael Monfils had to come from two sets down to set up a second round meeting with Jack Draper.
Monfils beat Bolivian Hugo Dellien in five sets after over three and a half hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
This has set up a meeting with world number five Draper, who has had a breakout season so far in 2025.
Draper, who is sometimes compared to Rafael Nadal, will now play Monfils for just the second time in his career.
Gael Monfils says what he thinks about French Open opponent Jack Draper
The only other time that Monfils has played Draper was at the Canadian Open in 2022, which resulted in a retirement for the Frenchman.
However, when speaking in his press conference, Monfils revealed that he has practiced with Draper before and always believed that he would become a top 10 player.
“I always said Jack will be a top 10 player, and I played him like when he was a youngster,” said Monfils. I played him a lot in the practice. I really like the kid, he’s I think a fantastic player.
“He’s a top five…he has a lot of weapons, a lot of weapons, he’s very gifted. It’s going to be a hard one, he’s in full confidence so you know I will do what I do best, try to recover and try to give my best you know, in Paris and in Roland Garros and we’ll see what scenario we have.”
Draper has since gone further than the top five in the ATP rankings, and is currently forecasted to reach a new career-high of world number four after the French Open.
Gael Monfils explains what was going through his mind after colliding with advertising board
Although Monfils was able to come through a thriller in front of his home crowd, that nearly did not happen after he suffered an injury in the first game of the match.
This happened when the 38-year-old was chasing down a ball and collided with the advertising board.
Monfils was able to move past the initial pain, and was asked after the match if he felt pressure to continue playing for the fans who had bought tickets for the often criticised night session match on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
However, the world number 42 admitted that his main concern was not wanting to ‘ruin’ one of his final appearances at his home Grand Slam tournament.
“The first pressure to be honest is not many Roland Garros,” said Monfils. “You think about yourself, you know it’s like not many Roland Garros left.
“So I don’t want to ruin like one of the last Roland Garros after three points, that’s the first thing you know this is hard, because you think of yourself first and myself was like wow.
“This and also, two years ago I had a problem with my wrist, so I was like ‘Wow okay wrist fine’ and I hope I didn’t break my knee or anything.
“That was my concern first, you know it was more about myself than the rest. Like wow, you can have like two, three months out of the season for just let’s say a little mistake, so I was concerned for myself first.”
Monfils has struggled with injury in recent months, and will be hoping that it does not hold him back when he plays Draper on Thursday May 29.
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