World No. 1 Novak Djokovic made an emphatic begin on the Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Russia’s Roman Safiullin to ease into the third spherical on a rain-delayed day three on Tuesday.
Djokovic, who pulled out of the latest Miami Open to stability his schedule, seemed contemporary as he broke Safiullin’s serve thrice within the opening set, and an additional two breaks within the second was sufficient to seal the win.
“I believe even the video games that I misplaced I had break factors in these video games. It’s a actually nice first match initially of the clay season,” Djokovic stated.
On Sunday, Djokovic overtook Roger Federer because the oldest primary ranked singles participant in ATP rankings historical past, at 36 years and 321 days.
“I met (Rohan) Bopanna yesterday, who’s the oldest doubles primary in historical past. He stated we had a mixed age of 80, however he does contribute to the 80 greater than I do,” Djokovic joked.
The Serb, winner in 2013 and 2015, will meet the victor between France’s Arthur Fils and Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti who play their second spherical match afterward Tuesday. Musetti defeated Djokovic within the third spherical final yr.
“Final yr as nicely, I began off nicely at this match and the second match I misplaced, so I hope to keep up this rhythm,” Djokovic added.
Hubert Hurkacz received into the second spherical with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) win, however was made to battle by Britain’s Jack Draper after the Polish tenth seed seemed like dominating early on.
Hurkacz raced right into a 3-0 lead within the first set however Draper rallied to stage at 4-4, earlier than the Pole broke serve to take the opener. Draper then broke to like twice to win the second set and power the decider.
With Hurkacz serving at 5-4 to win the match, Draper broke serve. Nevertheless it was a relieved Hurkacz who emerged victorious within the tiebreak.
Hurkacz, who additionally beat Draper ultimately yr’s match, will face Roberto Bautista Agut within the second spherical.
Alex de Minaur had little bother seeing off the problem of former champion Stan Wawrinka, profitable 6-3, 6-0 to progress to the second spherical.
Wawrinka received the title in 2014, however a decade later the Swiss 39-year-old was no match for the Australian eleventh seed, who wanted solely 24 minutes to finish a bagel within the second set, and can face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
American Sebastian Korda additionally eased into the second spherical with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, finalist in 2022, however will face a a lot stiffer check when he takes on world quantity two Jannik Sinner within the subsequent spherical.
“Clearly, he’s most likely one of the best tennis participant on this planet proper now,” Korda stated forward of assembly the Australian Open champion.
“He’s had an unbelievable season and it’s going to be our first assembly on the clay. I’m simply going to attempt to go on the market, strive my greatest, and see what occurs.”
Carlos Alcaraz, seeded third, has withdrawn from the match with an arm damage, and his second spherical place was taken by fortunate loser Lorenzo Sonego who will play Felix Auger-Aliassime.
German fifth seed Alexander Zverev takes on Sebastian Ofner of Austria within the second spherical afterward Tuesday.