Novak Djokovic on Thursday received knocked out early on the Monte Carlo Masters for the third 12 months in a row, prolonging the top-ranked Serb’s quest for a record-extending thirty ninth Masters trophy.
Playing in solely his second match on clay this season after a one-month pause, Djokovic misplaced 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in opposition to Lorenzo Musetti within the third spherical of the Monte Carlo Masters Thursday.
Still adapting to the sluggish floor, Djokovic struggled together with his motion, hit 46 unforced errors and couldn’t discover a answer to counter his Italian rival’s stable baseline pictures.
A two-time champion at Monte Carlo, Djokovic misplaced his opening match on the French Cote d’Azur final 12 months and exited the match within the third spherical in 2021.
Djokovic received off to a robust begin however misplaced management of the match within the second set, dropping his serve 5 occasions as each gamers struggled with accuracy in windy situations.
Djokovic led 4-2 however couldn’t maintain onto his lead as Musetti’s mixture of intelligent drop pictures and deep groundstrokes put the 22-time Grand Slam winner on the again foot. Djokovic was damaged at love within the eleventh sport and was livid on the changeover, stomping on his racket and destroying it.
Musetti stored his cool within the subsequent sport to serve out the set and pressure a decider.
The match was suspended by rain for about an hour with the rating 6-4, 5-7, 1-1 and Djokovic up 40-30 on his serve. Musetti broke for a 4-3 lead and concluded on his fourth match level.
The Sixteenth-seeded Musetti, who led two units to like in opposition to Djokovic on the 2021 French Open earlier than retiring within the fifth set, will tackle Jannik Sinner within the quarterfinals.
The seventh-seeded Sinner got here from behind and saved a match level to get previous No. 10-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1.
Sinner trailed by a set and a break earlier than popping out on high of a 22-shot rally when down 6-5 within the tiebreaker to stay within the match. Hurkacz misplaced the next two factors and threw his racket in anger, earlier than completely shedding his focus within the decider.
“Playing against him, I knew already from the beginning that it was very tough to get into the rhythm,” Sinner said. “I believe he served unimaginable within the first one-and-a-half units, and after I broke him the primary time the momentum modified a bit bit.”
Also, German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff took one other step in his comeback from an damage as he upset fourth-seeded Casper Ruud 6-1, 7-6 (6).
Having been ranked twenty ninth, Struff dropped as little as No. 168 after sustaining a foot fracture final 12 months throughout a match in Miami, an damage that left him sidelined for greater than two months.
Struff has loved a very good begin to the season and returned to the Top 100 final month however had not overwhelmed anybody within the Top 10 since June 2021. His aggressive fashion of play resulted in 37 winners and 23 factors gained on the internet in opposition to Ruud, who dropped his serve 4 occasions.
Struff ended Ruud’s nine-match successful streak on clay. The 2022 French Open runner-up had gained his previous two tournaments on the floor, in Gstaad final July and in Estoril final week.
Struff will subsequent be up in opposition to 2021 runner-up Andrey Rublev, who beat Karen Khachanov 7-6 (4), 6-2 on the Country Club.
“We know each other too well,” Rublev mentioned. “The first set was solely psychological. We didn’t present some tennis abilities. But it was powerful to indicate abilities as a result of the wind was actually onerous and the court docket was slippery and it was powerful to do one thing.”
Two-time defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Nicolas Jarry 6-3, 6-4 with out dropping his serve.
“I had to deal with a few (tough) points, especially when he had break points,” said Tsitsipas, who next plays eighth-seeded Taylor Fritz. “I handled these conditions very maturely and performed exactly, so it was nice on the market.”
Sixth-seeded Holger Rune superior to the quarterfinals with out taking part in when Matteo Berrettini withdrew as a result of an damage. Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev was scheduled to play Thirteenth-seeded Alexander Zverev later.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
