Day Five and the round of sixteen in Monaco.
Rolex Monte Carlo Masters - an ATP Masters 1000 category tournament, on Red Clay, in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 14-21 April 2019.
Defending champion:
Rafa Nadal (1) who defeated Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-2
Round of sixteen results
- Daniil Medvedev (10) v Stefanos Tsitsipas (6)
These two had met on three occasions before, all last year, in Miami, at the US Open, and in Basel, each time with Medvedev successful. The rising Greek star managed to take a set off Medvedev on each occasion, but it wasn’t enough. Those were all on hard courts, so maybe the change to clay would help Tsitsipas reverse his fortune today.
Tsitsipas served first and it was a lengthy opener. Game point was reached two separate times, but the Russian cancelled those chances and then gained a break point. It disappeared after a backhand just missed. A brilliant drop shot helped Tsitsipas eventually win the game.
Almost before Tsitsioas could take a breath, he was back at the line to serve again, after Medvedev held to love, a backhand winner and ace highlighting the game.
Tsitsipas saved break point with a backhand winner but two successive forehand failures saw him drop serve and Medvedev led 2-1. A further break occurred in game five, where Tsitsipas donated a double fault and three more errors. A love game featuring a drop shot, and sealed with an ace, consolidated the double break for Medvedev. 5-1.
After Tsitsipas held, Medvedev used a drop shot to lead 30-0, while serving for the set. Two set points came following a Greek forehand mistake, and on the second of these, Tsitsipas again messed up a forehand to grant Medvedev the opening set 6-2.
Whereas Medvedev was able to shut out Tsitsipas in set one, the Russian must have been sent to Siberia in the second stanza of this contest, because his presence on court was essentially as a spectator. I’m in Australia, and I was as effective as Medvedev at this stage.
5-0 in the time it takes to boil an egg. Medvedev broken twice, and Tsitsipas holding serve in a canter, 12 points to 2 on his delivery.
Medvedev returned from exile in time to actually win a game, a drop shot and overhead assisting. However, it just delayed the obvious, and Tsitsipas calmly moved to set points on the back of two winning overheads and Russian errors. It only required one chance to be converted, and a down the line forehand sealed it. The set was Greek 6-1.
In the decider, after a pair of service breaks determined a 2-2 scoreline, the players protected serve diligently, no break points faced. Until the tenth game, that is.
At 4-5, Tsitsipas was serving to stay alive, and he lost the opening point with a forehand into the net. Another forehand was pushed wide, and an overhead was mismanaged. Three match points raised their heads.
One saved through a quality forehand winner. Sadly the match was done with a double fault.
Daniil Medvedev won a quarter final spot with this 6-2 1-6 6-4 victory.
- Novak Djokovic (1) defeated Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-0
- Dusan Lajovic upset Dominic Thiem (4) 6-3 6-3
- Qualifier Lorenzo Sonego defeated Cameron Norrie 6-2 7-5
- Borna Coric (9) defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4 6-2
- Fabio Fognini (13) defeated Alexander Zverev (3) 7-6(6) 6-1 in another upset
- Guido Pella defeated Marco Cecchinato (11) 6-4 4-6 6-4
- Rafa Nadal (2) defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-1
Quarter final match ups
Novak Djokovic (1) v Daniil Medvedev (10)
Dusan Lajovic v qualifier Lorenzo Sonego
Borna Coric (9) v Fabio Fognini (13)
Guido Pella v Rafa Nadal (2)
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