Madrid Masters 1000: Djokovic insists on history and extends Monfils’ sworn streak

World number one Novak Djokovic made his debut on Tuesday at the Masters 1000 in Madrid in a resounding victory over Frenchman Gael Monfils by a comfortable 6-3, 6-2. The Serbian, three -time winner of the Spanish capital, from less to more in one meetingstopped for a few minutes while lowering the retractable roof of Caja Mágica in the face of the rain that began to fall on the city again.

At 2-2 on the scoreboard, Nole saved three break points in game five to make it 3-2. In the next game he broke his rival’s serve to increase his advantage and go straight to victory in the first set.

In the second set, Djokovic stressed from the start against Monfils, who seemed weighed down with pressure at crucial moments of the match.

Monfils began to fall and Djokovic’s new break in the seventh game was almost the sentence for the Frenchman. The Serbian, who has now raised his record against the Frenchman to an impressive 18-0, will face the winner in the meeting between British Andy Murray and Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Meanwhile, his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic defeated Kazakh Alexander Bublik 6-4 and 7-5 to advance to the second round, where he will face Rafael Nadal on Wednesday. The Spaniard, who is back from a rib injury, has not played a match since beating the Indian Wells final to American Taylor Fritz.

Earlier, Russian Andrey Rublev advanced to the third round when he defeated British Jack Draper, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, while Spanish Roberto Bautista defeated American Jenson Brooksby, 6-0, 6-2.

Moreover, Croatian Marin Cilic defeated Spanish Albert Ramos 6-3, 3-6 and 6-4 to advance to the second round, where he will face German Alexander Zverev.

In another match that day, Polish Hubert Hurkacz, 12th favorite, had to work hard to eliminate Bolivian Hugo Dellien, 7-5, 6-7 (11-13), 6-3, and get into the second round, where he will face Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich.

Chilean Cristian Garín also advanced to the round after beating American Frances Tiafoe with authority 6-0 and 6-1 and will face Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the eighth seed in the tournament, in the next round.

This Wednesday will feature Argentine Diego Schwartzman again, who in his debut eliminated Frenchman Benoit Paire in three sets. His rival is Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, whom he strangely faces today in the doubles tournament where he said goodbye with Máximo González. It was 6-3 and 7-6 (8) for the European to form an Auger-Alissime pair.

Source: AFP