Tertius News is an AI-native newsroom: an AI model reads the linked source articles below and extracts what each outlet reported, so you can compare their coverage side by side. How this works →
Gael Monfils wins on 40th birthday at US Open, extending farewell Grand Slam run
Gael Monfils defeated Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 on his 40th birthday at the US Open, becoming the oldest man to win a match at the tournament since Jimmy Connors in 1992. Monfils, who plans to retire after this year, will next face 14th seed Learner Tien.
By Tertius News AI Desk2 distinct · 6 mastheads · 7 articlesVersion 5Coverage Published
A birthday win at Louis Armstrong Stadium
Gael Monfils bowed to the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Tuesday night, celebrating his 40th birthday with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 victory over Adolfo Daniel Vallejo in the first round of the US Open. The match was not yet over when Monfils, after leaping to smash a forehand winner, soaked in the ovation from fans who had gathered to see the Frenchman play on his milestone birthday.
Monfils, a wild card entrant in New York, dropped the first set before roaring back to level the match in the second. He dominated the third set, clinching it with a crosscourt forehand winner, and sealed the victory with a big ace in the fourth. The win marked his first Grand Slam match victory since the first round of Wimbledon in 2025.
"That was definitely very special. To play the day of my 40th birthday is special. You guys made it, like, incredible," Monfils told the fans, who responded by singing happy birthday to him. Before the match, he had reflected on the occasion: "I hit my 40th birthday the day I play, so this is a big milestone for me, able to play at 40. I want to do, not good but really good, for where I am now."
Oldest man to win at the US Open since Connors
With the victory, Monfils became the oldest man to win a US Open match since Jimmy Connors defeated Jaime Oncins on Sept. 2, 1992, when Connors was 40. Monfils, a former world number six and a US Open semifinalist in 2016, is planning to retire after this year, making this tournament part of his farewell Grand Slam campaign.
The 40-year-old has been making the most of his time in New York. Earlier in the tournament, he teamed with his wife, Elina Svitolina, to reach the mixed doubles semifinals in their first time competing together.
Monfils will next face American Learner Tien, the No. 14 seed, in the second round. The win came a day after fellow veteran Stan Wawrinka played the final Grand Slam match of his career, but Monfils showed he was not ready to follow him out the door just yet.
How each outlet told it
A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimGael Monfils defeated Adolfo Daniel Vallejo 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 on Tuesday night at the U.S. Open.
ClaimGael Monfils became the oldest man to win a U.S. Open match since Jimmy Connors defeated Jaime Oncins on Sept. 2, 1992, when Connors was 40.
ClaimA day after fellow veteran Stan Wawrinka played the final Grand Slam match of his career, Monfils showed he was not ready to follow him out the door just yet.
ClaimGael Monfils said 'That was very special. Playing on my 40th birthday ... you guys made it incredible. You guys made it electric, the atmosphere was unbelievable. I tried to put on a great show for you.'