5. Rafael Nadal d. Gael Monfils 7-5, 5-7, 6-0/F/Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters At the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, it was best if you had simply forgotten about the Gael Monfils you had once known – the fun, care-free player who liked to entertain as much as he liked to win. Because the Monfils who had dashed through to the Monte-Carlo final was not that Monfils. This Monfils had gone a perfect 10-0 in sets, racing to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title match. He had beaten Jiri Vesely – the left-hander who had upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic – 6-1, 6-2, and Monfils had dominated countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-1, 6-3 in the semi-finals. So impressive had Monfils been that...
Fourth seed Pablo Cuevas struck 11 aces to move past qualifier Jozef Kovalik 6-4, 7-6(4) on Wednesday and reach the European Open quarter-finals in Antwerp. He will meet Diego Schwartzman or #NextGen star Taylor Fritz, who won 80 per cent of his first-serve points and came back to beat German wild card Joris De Loore 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Third seed Richard Gasquet lost only two first-serve points (24/26) to beat Spaniard Inigo Cervantes 6-2, 6-4. Fifth seed Gilles Simon, who reached last week’s Shanghai Rolex Masters semi-finals, converted five of six break points in a 6-3, 6-2 victory against German qualifier Yannick Maden. It was Simon's 30th match win of the year. The Frenchman will face another German in round...