Less than three weeks before the start of Roland-Garros (from May 22 to June 5), hostilities continue on clay in Madrid, Tuesday, May 3. Draft and uninspired, Gaël Monfils conceded another defeat against Novak Djokovic. For his part, Andrey Rublev qualified in pain for the knockout stages of the Spanish Masters 1000.
Djokovic still too strong for Monfils
It’s already over for Gaël Monfils. The French lost on Tuesday in two straight sets (6-3, 6-2) and 1h27 of play against Novak Djokovic. In 18 confrontations, the tricolor player has therefore still not managed to win against the Serb. Never has any ATP player posted such a poor record against an opponent.
The step was unfortunately too high for Monfils, taken out by Djokovic in the second round in Madrid #MMOPEN #HomeOfTennis pic.twitter.com/0HN6842phC
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) May 3, 2022
The meeting was interrupted by rain, while the two players tied the game in the first set (2-2). But when he returned from the locker room, Gaël Monfils lost his footing against the world number 1. He failed to save a single break point and made far too many errors (31 unforced errors).
For his part, after having been in difficulty at the start of the match, Djokovic was able to raise his level of play over the course of the meeting and largely mastered the debates. He will face the winner of the match between Andy Murray and Denis Shapovalov in the next round.
It just passes for Rublev
The world number 8 got very hot. Nine days after his coronation in Serbia against Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev won in extremis against Jack Draper (2-6, 6-5, 7-5), during the second round of the Spanish Masters 1000. Broken from the start, the Russian started his match very badly and conceded the first set after only half an hour of play.
WHAT A MATCH! @AndreyRublev97 edges past Jack Draper 2-6 6-4 7-5 to advance to the third round in Madrid!@MutuaMadridOpen | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/m81iY1gsAW
— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 3, 2022
After a slight bloodshed, Andrey Rublev managed to pocket the second set. He then came back from a 0-3 and evacuated a late break to win 7-5, after 2:16 of the match. He will face in the next round the winner of the confrontation between Daniel Evans and Pablo Carreño Busta, which takes place on Wednesday.
Among women, Bianca Andreescu lost in the round of 16 of the WTA 1000 in Madrid, against Jessica Pigula (7-5, 6-1). The American will face in the quarterfinals the Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, 47th in the world. End of the adventure also for Elena Rybakina (18th), who was beaten in two sets by Jil Teichmann (35th).