Monfils was struggling with a back injury at the start of the fourth set as Ben Shelton advanced to the quarter-finals

At the same time, it is worth noting that – with this retirement – Monfils has become the player with the most retirements and walkovers in Open Era together with German Tommy Haas. Both are 33, ahead of Nikolay Davydenko and Philipp Kohlschreiber in this particular ranking.

American tennis star Ben Shelton has shown his class after opponent Gael Monfils was forced to retire in the fourth set of their gripping clash at the Australian Open on Monday night. Monfils pulled the pin with 21st seed Shelton leading 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2), 1-0 much to the dismay of the crowd.

Gael Monfils rallied from a set down to claim a thrilling 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 6-4 win over American Taylor Fritz in a third-round match at the Australian Open.

Ben Shelton ground down French veteran Gael Monfils Monday to set up an Australian Open quarter-final against Lorenzo Sonego, who ended teenage qualifier Learner Tien's fairytale run. But again nothing separated them until Shelton ended the resistance of Monfils with a series of winners to take the tiebreak and the veteran retired soon after.