Today’s Men’s News (4/17) – Monte Carlo

Written by: Staff on 16th April 2013

Today's Men's News (4/17) - Monte Carlo

epa03629923 Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot to Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the men's final match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 17 March 2013. Nadal defeated Del Potro to win the match and the tournament. EPA/PAUL BUCK |

Monte Carlo

Rafael Nadal leads an all-star elite lineup at the first major clay event of the French Open run-up with the Spanish king of clay now joined for sure by top seed Novak Djokovic. The Serb made a decision to participate after several days of testing the ankle he injured in Davis Cup this month.

He faces Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who has won three of their seven matches, the last in 2010. Djokovic gave his good news to tournament bosses who had been worried about one of their main drawcards.

Nadal, aiming for a record ninth straight title at the tournament where he not lost since 22003, starts against Marinko Matosevic after the Australian booked his second-round spot 7-5, 6-3 over 2010 finalist Fernando Verdasco.

Matosevic, 54th, won’t have time to celebrate his upset but will need to apply all of his energies in the test against Nadal. The Aussie advanced in just under two hours, saving nine of the dozen break points he faced while breaking the 31st-ranked Verdasco on five occasions. Matoseic last won a clay match in the first round of French Open qualifying last May after earning his last ATP win on the surface in Munich a few weeks earlier.

In other matches to close out the first round, Spain’s tenth seed Nicolas Almagro came back against Belgian David Goffin 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 while Swiss 13th seed Stanislas Wawrinka beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-3, 7-5. Argentine Juan Monaco, the No.14, defeated Slovak Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-0.

In the second round, the seeded French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet made winning starts with sixth seed Tsonga beating Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(3), 6-2 while Richard Gasquet struggled before containing countryman Benoit Paire 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

Argentine wild card Juan Del Potro won his first match in Monte Carlo, where he last played four years ago. The South American finalist at Indian Wells against Nadal beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a fightback and now stands 17-5 this season. Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov upset eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic 7-6(3), 6-1, with the Serb double-faulting on a set point in the opening set and tweeting that he is now taking a few days off.