Monfils and Raonic Advance on Day Three in Madrid

May 5, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Monfils_01

Gael Monfils got off to a winning start in Madrid, cruising past Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-0 to reach the Mutua Madrid Open second-round on Tuesday.

Monfils used a dominant serve to get past Troicki, losing just 15 service points in the match, and broke Troicki five times in six chances to advance.

The 13th-seeded Frenchman will take on Marcel Granollers next. The Spaniard led 5-2 in his opening round contest before Serbia’s Martin Klizan was forced to retire.

In a second-round matchup on Tuesday, fifth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic powered past Argentina’s Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-4. In his 20th match win of 2015, Raonic won 80 percent of his service points to snap a two-match losing streak to Monaco.

Raonic will duel with the winner of the match between 11th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez and Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, who will play on Wednesday.

Jack Sock became the fourth American in the field to reach the second round, beating Spain’s Pablo Andujar 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday.

Sock looked to be cruising as he led 6-4, 5-2 on serve, but lost three straight games, including two service games, to open the door for an Andujar comeback.

But Sock regrouped and broke back for a 6-5 lead and consolidated it with a hold to close out the Spaniard and advance.

“It got scary there in the second for a little bit,” said Sock. “I felt pretty good being up 5-2 in the second, but he’s a very good, crafty clay court player. I was lucky to get through there in the end. I’m happy to get through.”

The 22-year old will play the 12th-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. Tsonga was able to push past Czech Lukas Rosol 7-5, 6-3 to advance.

10th seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the second-round after Donald Young was forced to retire. Dimitrov led 6-4, 3-0 before the match was called.

Nick Kyrgios ousted Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-3 to reach the second-round and set up a matchup with world number two Roger Federer.

Other winners on Tuesday were: The 14th-seed Roberto Bautista-Agut, Tommy Robredo, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Fernando Verdasco and Richard Gasquet.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Century
Oneononedoubles banner art resize

March/April 2024 Digital Edition