By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Reigning Monte-Carlo champion Fabio Fognini and Stefanos Tsitsipas both made strong starts, while Felix-Auger Aliassime fell in his first match with coach Toni Nadal.
Photo credit: Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters
Sun returned to Monte-Carlo today after a soggy opening day.
Daylight made the Mediterranean glisten like glass and spotlighted challenges players faced in the surface transition to dirt.
More: Medvedev Tests Positive for Coronavirus, Out of Monte-Carlo
Reigning champion Fabio Fognini and fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas navigated the shifting surface with control in straight-sets wins.
Playing his first match with new coach Toni Nadal in his corner, Felix Auger-Aliassime couldn't quite control his forehand on stress points and failed to convert four set points bowing to 16th-seeded Cristian Garin 7-6(3), 6-1.
The day began with a stunner World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev tested positive for Coronavirus and was forced to withdraw from his home tournament. Medvedev, who practiced with 11-time champion Rafael Nadal yesterday, is currently in isolation under the supervision of the tournament physician.
The 15th-seeded Fognini, who managed just three games losing his Marbella opener to Jaume Munar last week, broke serve seven times in a 6-2, 7-5 win over Miomir Kecmanovic today. It was Fognini's seventh straight win in Monte-Carlo sending him into a second-round match vs. Aussie Jordan Thompson.
Tsitsipas was smoothly explosive displacing dangerous Aslan Karatsev with depth and angle in a 6-3, 6-4 sweep.
If you saw the 27-year-old Karatsev's inspired run to the Australian Open semifinals as a qualifier, then you know all about his crackling power off both wings, his super hero super-sized calf muscles and his ability to launch his shots from right around the baseline like a sprinter springing from starting blocks.
Tsitsipas, who watched some of Karatsev's straight-sets win over talented Italian teenager Lorenzo Musetti yesterday, was determined to dictate court positioning.
In this first meeting between shot-makers, Tsitsipas played some higher, heavier topspin to displace the Russian before stepping in to slash drives down the lines.
"It wasn't easy playing against him considering I hadn't played him before. I didn't know what to expect," Tsitsipas told Tennis Channel's Prakash Amritrah afterward. "He started pretty strong. I could see he really wanted that win. I pushed back. I think knocked him out when I had to.
"I was expecting him to get back [behind the baseline]. It's not easy to be playing on the line on clay... very few people can do that. So I was quite impressed that he was playing the way he played at the very beginning. But eventually I did see he moved a few steps back. I reconstructed my tactic against him."
The fifth-ranked Greek asserted his all-court authority rolling through 12 of 16 points in racing out to a 4-1 lead.
Thirty-three minutes into the match, Tsitsipas displaced Karatsev with the wide serve then slid a forehand winner down the line for set point. Tsitsipas pounced on a mid-court ball and hammered a forehand winner to seal the opening set.
The depth of Tsitsipas' drives gave Karatsev little room to operate. The Russian sailed a backhand to face double break point then pasted a forehand into net as Tsitsipas scored his second break for a 2-1 second-set lead.
Karatsev had opportunities to break right back, but Tsitsipas dug in and denied a pair of break points confirming the break from 15-40 down to extend his lead to 3-1.
Continuing to mix spins and speeds on serve, Tsitsipas saved all four break points he faced in a one hour, 24-minute win to become the first man into the round of 16. Tsitsipas has reached quarterfinals or better at all five tournaments he's played this season, including his loss to Alexander Zverev in the Acapulco final. He'll try to continue that quarterfinal streak against either Aussie John Millman or Garin next.
Making his Monte-Carlo debut, Garin was staring down a 2-5 deficit to Auger-Aliassime as the pair resumed their first-round match that rain postponed yesterday with the Canadian up 4-2.
Auger-Aliassime had two set points at 5-2, but Garin hung tough drawing errors to hold then breaking back in the ninth game. The Canadian earned another couple of set points in the 12th game, but overshot the mark with a forehand on the second to give Garin wiggle room.
The owner of five clay court titles, including his first on home soil in Santiago last month, Garin showed his clay class in the tiebreaker. Garin was more solid, refused to give up any cheap errors and repeatedly broke Auger-Aliassime's forehand down at crunch time.
Earning a pair of forehand misses, Garin went up 3-0 and when the 20-year-old Canadian missed the mark with a forehand down the line, Garin stretched his lead to 5-1. Garin poked a running backhand pass down the line snatching the first set from 2-5 down.
Toni Nadal, who was court-side for this match, will probably spent time trying to smoothen Auger-Aliassime's extensive forehand backswing and also the Canadian's tendency to sometimes allow a little too much space between his body and the ball on that wing. Given Auger-Aliassime is just 20, there's a lot of time and room for improvement.
"I was at 6-5. I had opportunities, many opportunities, to win the set, and I didn't do it," Auger-Aliassime said afterward. "After the first set, it was not a bad match, but it was frustrating. In the second set things became more complicated. I don't believe making over two days made a difference because I had many opportunities...
"It was a frustrating match for me."
Former Houston champion Garin moves well on the dirt. He broke twice springing out to a 5-1 second-set lead. Garin served out his first Monte-Carlo victory at love.
"Today, I think I was more solid than him and I served better," said Garin, who saved five of break points. "I put a few kilos more to the tension and I tried to play more deep.
"My coach told me to play more deep and try to attack more. I think I did that very well. Clay is my favorite surface but I am trying to improve on hard court. This year I started with an injury on my wrist and I couldn't start in Australia. So I'm very happy to be playing here in Monte-Carlo, I'm healthy I hope to keep going."
Miami Open finalist Jannik Sinner swept Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4 to set up a second-round clash vs. world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who is 9-0 on the season but has not played since crushing Russians Karatsev and Medvedev in succession to capture his 18th career Grand Slam championship.
"I will definitely have a game plan trying to make my game plan happen, which is my first thing to do," Sinner said of facing Djokovic. "Obviously I know who is on the other side. I mean, obviously it's a tough match I think from my side because I don't know him that well. Obviously seeing him a lot in TV, watching matches. But when you play against in a match it's different.
"I'm looking forward to that match. It's a good test for my side to see where I am, especially where I can improve. I know where I can improve, but this kind of match can give me a lot. I just try to go there with the right mentality like in every match and we will see what's happening."
King of clay Nadal, who occupies the unfamiliar No. 3 seed in Monte-Carlo, opens against Argentinean left-hander Federico Delbonis. Nadal, who has played just one tournament this season, is 4-0 lifetime vs. Delbonis sweeping all nine sets they've played.
No. 9-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut defeated American No. 1 Taylor Fritz, 6-2, 7-5, setting up a second-round meeting with another American, Tommy Paul.
"I'm Spanish so I grow up playing on clay, no?" Bautista Agut said. "It was our main surface. At the club where I grew up there were 15 courts and 15 were clay courts.
"I'm used to playing on these courts and happy with how I played today....I played great it was a good first round."