PARIS -- Wild card Gael Monfils of France thrilled a partisan center court crowd Monday by upsetting No. 5-seeded Tomas Berdych in the first round of the French Open, 7-6 (8), 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5.
The match took more than four hours and ended at twilight when Berdych hit a backhand long. Monfils then pounded his chest with his fist as the crowd roared one last time.
Monfils, a former top-10 player mounting a comeback from a right knee injury, hit 26 aces and was broken only once.
Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010, has lost in the first round at a major event 10 times.