Nadal and Federer Cruise in Monte Carlo

April 15, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Rafael Nadal got off to a good start in the clay season on Wednesday, defeating France’s Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-1 to reach the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters third-round.

The “King of Clay” dispatched Pouille in just 69 minutes using a dominating serve, winning 75 percent of service points, and notching four break points to move past the 21-year old Frenchman.

“Today I played solidly,” said Nadal, seeded third. “I played with no mistakes in a row. I played aggressively when I had to play aggressive. I hit some good passing shots than in the past couple of months. It’s a thing that I haven’t been doing very well.”

Nadal looked sharp playing in his first match since being ousted in the round of 32 at the Miami Open last month, and now moves on to play 15th-seeded American John Isner.

Isner edged Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 7-6(4), 7-6(5) to advance to the third-round. Isner hit 16 aces and won 74 percent of his service points in a match that saw no break points won.

Like Nadal, Roger Federer had no problems in his opening match in Monte Carlo. The second-seeded Swiss rolled past France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-1 to move into the third-round.

“I thought Jeremy didn’t serve very well and I felt good on the return,” said Federer. “So I was in a lot of the service games when he was serving. Then I thought I served well, had a high first serve percentage and was able to control the baseline.”

Federer fired 19 winners and just 12 unforced errors in the second-round contest.

He will take on France’s Gael Monfils next in a rematch of their epic five-set match at last year’s US Open.

The 14th-seeded Monfils played a tight contest with Alexandr Dolgopolov, edging the Ukrainian 7-6(5), 7-6(6).

Federer’s compatriot Stan Wawrinka coasted into the third-round on Wednesday as well, downing Argentina’s Juan Monaco 6-1, 6-4.

The seventh-seed and defending champion Wawrinka lost only two points on first serves and broke Monaco five times to push through.

“I think I played a great match,” said Wawrinka. “It’s a tough first round to play Monaco, but it’s a typical clay-court match…playing from the baseline. Over the past two months, [I have had] really difficulty with my game, with my confidence. I was happy to come on clay again. The conditions are great here.”

Wawrinka will take on ninth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov next.

A day after saving 15 break points, Dimitrov rolled past Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4. Dimitrov only allowed one break point opportunity in this match and saved it.

All the seeded players won their respective matches on Wednesday. Other winners included: The fourth-seeded Milos Raonic, sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych, 10th-seeded Gilles Simon, 11th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 12th-seeded Roberto Bautista-Agut and 16th-seeded Tommy Robredo.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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