Sinner Clobbers Korda At Monte Carlo Masters; Djokovic v Musetti, Tsitsipas v Zverev

World No. 2 Jannik Sinner kept rolling in his clay debut, crushing Sebastian Korda 6-1, 6-2 in his Monte Carlo Masters opener.

Sinner, who comes in off his second career Masters title in Miami last two weeks ago, improves to 23-1 on the season. He came in as the betting favorite to win Monte Carlo.

“I’m very happy to be back on court,” Sinner said. “I think me and Sebi, we have two game styles which are very similar in one way, and also, we have quite flat shots.

“Today was very important trying to move the ball around. Was not necessary to play with the heights of the ball but more about the movement. So I consider this as a very good win, because it was a tough match. You know, you see the scoreline, but, you know, the match is a little bit different.

“I’m just happy, and hopefully I can still improve in the next days feeling even more comfortable with this surface and with my movement. Then we’ll see how it goes.”

He’s back on the court Thursday against Jan-Lennard Struff.

Casper Ruud and Hubert Hurkacz were both winners today, and they’ll meet tomorrow in a good one.

Daniil Medvedev overcame some line call issues to ease past Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-4. Up next for Medvedev is countryman Karen Khachanov.

“When I was younger I didn’t like to play Karen,” Medvedev said. “Now it’s never, like, I don’t like to play someone or I like to play someone. I think I lost maybe two, won four, I don’t know exactly.

“When I was young I really didn’t like to play him. At one point he was really better than me, so I was going crazy. I was getting, like, you know, code violations and stuff, because I was just not controlling myself well enough.

“That would be the craziest memories. I’m sure he remembers some of them, because he’s a little bit more calm than me. So every time a calmer guy would look at me, he would be, like, looking at something new and always surprised.

“So Karen was on the other side of the net looking with eyes like this, really surprised by what I was doing all the time. Then we grew up and now we can laugh about all these moments. It’s a big match. You know, on clay I feel like Karen can play very, very well, can be very dangerous.”

Defending champ Andrey Rublev was dusted in the surprise of the day by Alexei Popyrin

Two-time winner Stefanos Tsitsipas tamed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-1, 6-0.

Tomorrow, Tsitsipas will collide with Alexander Zverev. The Greek leads 9-5 but Zverev won earlier this year at the United Cup.

And World No. 1 Novak Djokovic returns fresh off his best performance of the season. Djokovic will take on Lorenzo Musetti for a fifth time. He leads the Italian 3-1 with Musetti winning in this round a year ago in three sets!

“It’s kind of fun, because it’s exactly one year, because it’s same tournament, same round, and same spot,” Musetti said of the big win last year.

“So hopefully will be a nice match, but of course, as I said before, would be a lesson, for sure, in both ways. If I lose or if I win, doesn’t really matter, because, you know, playing against a champion like Nole, there is always something to learn and to, you know, to take.”