Djokovic Wins In Clay Debut At Monte Carlo Masters; Sinner v Korda, Medvedev v Monfils Wed.

Novak Djokovic enjoyed about as good of a clay opener as he could have hoped Tuesday rolling Roman Safiullin 6-1, 6-2.

The Serb was dominant losing just six total points on serve breaking five times in the win. The world No. 1 was naturally thrilled with the performance.

“My feeling was great,” Djokovic said. “I think it’s an accurate judgment from the people that it’s been one of the best performances I had here in quite a few years.

“It’s one match. I’m going to hope to work tomorrow to maintain that rhythm and focus, obviously try to perform as well as I did in the second match as well as I did today. Matches are only going to get tougher,” he said. “They love playing on clay, more spin on the balls so it’s a different matchup.

“But I like really the way I felt today on the court, the way I was striking the ball. I think the two, three weeks of training I had is paying off really, you know, good training block with Zimonjic and with the team. We put in a lot of hours into thinking about the game, the movement, and things that haven’t really worked for me in the first couple tournaments of this year that I played.”

Djokovic, who hasn’t even made the semifinals at Monte Carlo since his 2015 title run, will now take on the rising Italian Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday.

“I’m not scared of anything and anybody, but I really hope that I can get the chance to play him again, get the matchup, another matchup here,” Djokovic said of Musetti.

“He obviously is, you know, one of the most talented players on clay, a beautiful one-handed backhand. He’s very athletic. He can do a lot of great things. He’s one of the most promising young players not only from Italy but generally for the world.”

Musetti ousted French phenom Arthur Fils 6-3, 7-5.

Alexander Zverev won an all-German affair over Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4. Estoril champ Hubert Hurkacz knocked out Jack Draper in a final set breaker and Alex De Minaur destroyed former champion Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-0.

On Wednesday, Monte Carlo tournament betting favorite Jannik Sinner takes the court against American Sebastian Korda. Daniil Medvedev meets Gael Monfils and Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and 2-time winner Stefanos Tsitsipas are also in action.

“I would like to not like clay as he does,” Monfils said of Medvedev. “He won Rome, he went to the quarters in the French once. So I take it. It’s the same thing. He says he doesn’t like clay, but that doesn’t mean he’s not good on that surface.

“Of course it’s not his favorite one, but he’s still Daniil Medvedev, and whatever the surface, it’s always very complicated to play him.”

WEDNESDAY MONTE CARLO MASTERS SCHEDULE
Court Rainier III – 11am
(6) Andrey Rublev vs Alexei Popyrin
2) Jannik Sinner vs Sebastian Korda
(4) Daniil Medvedev vs Gael Monfils
(7) Holger Rune vs (Q) Sumit Nagal

Court des Princes – 11am
(11) Alex de Minaur vs Tallon Griekspoor
(12) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Tomas Martin Etcheverry
(8) Casper Ruud vs Alejandro Tabilo
(9) Grigor Dimitrov vs Miomir Kecmanovic

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