Federico Delbonis wants to hit Alexander Zverev and add the German name to the list of unexpected defeats of the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo 2022, which includes, for example, Novak Djokovic, number one in the world, and Carlos Alcaraz, recent champion in Miami. But although ranging from minor to major, the azuleño, 34th in the ranking, fell 6-1 and 7-5 to German, second favorite, in an hour and 26 minutes of play.

Zverev soon got ahead of the scoreboard and took the lead. After just 16 minutes of play, they are 4-1 up. The German was more aggressive than Delbonis and, although he also made more unforced errors, he played safely on key points of every game.

The Argentine can do little against tennis – not too showy, but effective – as shown by his rival. He gave up the serve in the third game, to be 1-2 down, and in the fifth, he was very wrong and gave another break (1-4).

And in the seventh game, an error and double fault by Delbonis gave Zverev a set point, which he did not forgive: a right down the line and another cross to remove the azuleño and a climb into the net to close the set just inside. . 23 minutes ..

The German seemed to dominate the fight, but at the start of the second set, he was unknown. With three consecutive unforced errors, he gave Delbonis three break point chances in the opening game (0-40). The Argentine completed the first and took an advantage, which he then confirmed with his serving -after raising a break point against- to make it 2-0.

Although he couldn’t find regularity, Zverev somewhat lifted the pressure and made things difficult again. Twice the azuleño saved his serve in the fourth game, but for his third time, world number three got a break to tie the score at 2-2.

Delbonis did not despair and was able to take advantage of one of his chances in the fifth game, where the German was very erratic, with little timing and somewhat uncomfortable, confused himself because of the missed ball. The Argentine stole his serve on the second break point of the match’s longest game, confirming the break in the next game and leading 4-2.

The fight escalated a bit and Delbonis seemed to be able to fight, but in the eighth game, the difference in the hierarchy of the two was obvious. Thanks to some mistakes from the Argentine and some good hits of his own, the German got a break from his worst moment of the night and tied the set 4-4.

Zverev had a match point in the tenth game, but Delbonis saved his serve and extended the story. Azuleño saved another match point a few games later, when he served 5-6 and 15-40, but then he left the ball in the net and the German rested again and sealed the victory. .

The 31-year-old Argentine was left with the desire to achieve his best historical performance in the event, the second round of last year, when he defeated Adrian Mannarino in his debut and then fell to Rafael Nadal. Nor did he break a long consecutive loss against the top 10. He added his 16th consecutive loss against players ranked in the top ten in the rankings. His last win was in the third round of Indian Wells 2016 against Andy Murray, then number two in the world.

But passing Montecarlo still left him with good news. Because by overcoming the debut, he got enough points to get the best ranking of his career: next Monday he will come out 32nd.

Zverev, who took the first step in the search for his sixth Masters 1000 and the first on Monegasque land, will now face Pablo Carreno Bustaseeded 13th, who eliminated Sebastián Báez in his debut and in the second round benefited from the abandonment of Kazakh Alexander Bublik when the Spanish won 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) and 4-3.

The day, the same, left good news for Argentine tennis. Earlier, Diego Schwartzman, seeded 12, defeated the Hungarian 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) Martin Fucsovics57th in the world, and entered the top 16 in the tournament.

El Peque can now clash with the Italian Lorenzo Musetti20 years old and 83rd in the rankings, beating Canadian 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) Felix Auger-Aliassime.