Marin Cilic denied Fernando Verdasco the 500th match win of his career on Wednesday as he booked his spot in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters third round. The second-seeded Croatian worked hard for a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over 2010 runner-up Verdasco in the final match of the day on Court Rainier III, the main show court. He will now compete against No. 14 Milos Raonic of Canada on Thursday. Cilic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1. Cilic broke Verdasco’s serve for a 3-1 lead, then recovered from 0/40 in the seventh game of the 35-minute first set. Verdasco, who saved three match points against Pablo Cuevas on Tuesday, gained a 2-0 lead in the second set, but Cilic quickly restored...
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal received a thunderous welcome to Court Rainier III on Wednesday and he didn’t disappoint the capacity crowd on his return to the ATP World Tour at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The Spanish superstar, a record 10-time champion, was fluent and impressive in his 6-1, 6-3 second-round victory over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in 68 minutes. "It was a positive start," said Nadal. "That's all. It's important for me to win matches, of course. I need days on court. Since Shanghai last year, I have spent not enough time on court competing. Every match that I have the chance to win is a great news, because it [helps my] confidence and is a chance to play...
Novak Djokovic won a match of small margins on Wednesday in a wonderful clash that was full of clean hitting at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The two-time former champion, a resident in the Principality of Monaco, needed 10 match point opportunities to put away Croatia’s Borna Coric, who, this year, has showcased his huge potential. Ninth seed Djokovic beat Coric 7-6(2), 7-5 in two hours and 16 minutes to reach the third round, where he will face fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem, one of the ATP World Tour’s strongest performers on clay courts over the past two years. Watch Hot Shot: Djokovic Unleashes Coric first saved two match points at 3-5, 15/40 in the second set, then recovered from 0/40 on...
Japan’s Kei Nishikori recovered from a slow start — as he did in his first-round win over Czech 2015 finalist Tomas Berdych — to get the better of Russian Daniil Medvedev at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Wednesday. Nishikori, who is this week competing at the Monte-Carlo Country Club for the first time since 2012, bounced back from 1-3 in the opener to win 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 41 minutes. He will now play Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi, who edged past lucky loser Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, in the third round. “He was better than me initially, but I tried to stay calm and began to dominate from the baseline,” said Nishikori. “I played better...
Alexander Zverev closed out 10 hours of play on Tuesday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters with around 200 fans clustered around Court Rainier III wrapped in warm jackets or with towels and rugs over their legs. Under the floodlights, well after the day-high temperature of 22°C had plummeted, Zverev found his rhythm towards the end of the second set in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 second-round victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller that ended at 8:46 p.m. local time. All four matches scheduled on the Monte-Carlo Country Club’s main show court, beginning at 11 a.m., went to three sets on Tuesday, including victories for Dominic Thiem (saved 1 M.P. vs. Rublev), Grigor Dimitrov (d. Herbert) and Mischa Zverev (d. Pouille). Concentration lapses...
