Mind-blowing statistic from Paris Masters that is pretty damning for old guard Andy Murray and Gael Monfils

Shahida Jacobs
Andy Murray frustrated
A frustrated Andy Murray during his tennis match

Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils have entertained tennis crowds for more than a decade, but they all suffered first-round exits from the Paris Masters this week and all four matches had a similar theme.

Former world No 1 Murray’s poor end-of-season form continued on Monday as he was beaten in three sets by 13th seed Alex de Minaur with the final score 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5 in the Australian’s favour.

De Minaur’s win wasn’t too big a surprise as he has dominated their head-to-head. He leads it 6-0, including four wins in 2023.

Later in the day three-time Grand Slam winner Wawrinka went down 6-3, 3-6, 5-7 against 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem while Gasquet was beaten 6-0, 2-6, 6-7 (6-8) by 12th seed Tommy Paul from the United States.

And the losing theme continued for the veterans – who are all over 36 – as Monfils was beaten 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 5-7 by Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo on Tuesday.

Besides being beaten by opponents who were all younger than them – De Minaur is 24, Thiem is 30, Paul is 26 and Cerundolo is 25 – there was also one remarkable stat from all four encounters.

Murray, Wawrinka, Gasquet and Monfils all had match points during their clashes.

Two-time Wimbledon champion had a match point in the third set as he was 4-5 (30-40) up on his own serve, but De Minaur saved it and went on to break. The Aussie then held his serve and broke again before wrapping up the win on his first match point.

It was a similar story for Wawrinka as he also had a match point on his own serve at 5-3 (40-30), but Thiem also held firm before going on to win the final three games of the match.

Frenchman Gasquet outdid Murray and Wawrinka as he had three match points in the third-set tie-breaker as he held a 6-3 advantage only to fail to win another point.

Gasquet’s compatriot Monfils completed the sorry story for the over 36-year-olds as he was up 5-4 (40-30) against Cerundolo, but failed to convert, although it was on the Argentine’s serve.

Cerundolo went on to win the tie-breaker and then Monfils saved two match points in game 10 of the decider, but the 12th seed was not to be denied as he won two games later.

READ MORE: Andy Murray casts a big doubt over his future after devastating Paris defeat

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