TENNIS NEWS FROM MONTE CARLO: NOVAK DJOKOVIC WINS HIS OPENER & ROGER FEDERER & RAFAEL NADAL BOTH PLAY TOMORROW BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 14th April 2015

Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament

TENNIS NEWS FROM MONTE CARLO: NOVAK DJOKOVIC WINS HIS OPENER & ROGER FEDERER & RAFAEL NADAL BOTH PLAY TOMORROW BY RICKY DIMON

epa04704227 Novak Djokovic (L) of Serbia returns the ball to Albert Ramos Vinolas of Spain during their second round match for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 14 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER |

Seeded players compiled a perfect 8-0 record at the Monte-Carlo Masters on Tuesday. Among those advancing was world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who booked his spot in the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Albert Ramos Vinolas of Spain during their second round match for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 14 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER

Coming off a 6-1, 6-1 blowout of Robin Haase, a confident Ramos-Vinolas was no match for Djokovic in set one. The second proved to be more competitive, but a single service break was enough for the top seed because he did not face a break point on his own serve after getting broken once in the opening frame of play.

“I felt very good,” Djokovic assured. “I thought, considering the amount of months that I haven’t played on the clay courts, to play against somebody that is a clay-court specialist and win in two sets, I thought it was a very good performance. I can just take positives from today.

“I’m playing at home in a way, because I spend a lot of time in Monte-Carlo; I practice in this club over the course of 12 months. I know people who are doing the courts; friends with them. It really is a different and very special feeling. So I’m trying to enjoy it and see how far I can go.”

Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts during his semifinal match against Milos Raonic of Canada at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 21 March 2015. EPA/DANIEL MURPHY

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be trying to join Djokovic in the last 32 when they take the court for their opening matches on Wednesday.

Federer is set to face familiar foe Jeremy Chardy, who disposed of Diego Schwartzman 7-5, 6-2 on Tuesday. Interestingly, one of the 17-time Grand Slam champion’s second-round matches during last year’s clay-court swing also came against Chardy, who stunned Federer 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) in Rome. They also squared off at the Brisbane International and the Paris Masters, with Federer prevailing both times (6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3 in Brisbane and 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-4 in Paris).

Thus the Swiss leads the head-to-head series 2-1, as they had never met prior to 2014. They still have never played a straight-set match against one another.

Nadal has no history with his opponent, Lucas Pouille. That is no surprise because Pouille is only 21 years old and just now starting to make a real name for himself on the ATP Tour. What did come as a surprise was Pouille’s first-round result, as the French wild card beat an in-form Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-4. Four of Pouille’s seven career ATP-level match victories have now come in 2015.

As for Nadal, he is looking to bounce back from a disappointing Indian Wells-Miami swing (quarterfinal loss to Milos Raonic in Indian Wells, third-round loss to Fernando Verdasco in Miami).

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp, Clay Court, Federer, Monte-Carlo Tennis, Novak Djokovic, Rafa, Ricky Dimon, Tennis News

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

April 14, 2015 at 6:22 pm

#TennisNews FROM #MonteCarlo: @DjokerNole WINS HIS OPENER & @rogerfederer & #NADAL BOTH PLAY TOMORROW BY @Dimonator http://t.co/Vmix7dYK3N
Dimonator says:

April 14, 2015 at 7:40 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #TennisNews FROM #MonteCarlo: @DjokerNole WINS HIS OPENER & @rogerfederer & #NADAL BOTH PLAY TOMORROW BY @Dimonator http:…
dusanVemic says:

April 14, 2015 at 8:14 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #TennisNews FROM #MonteCarlo: @DjokerNole WINS HIS OPENER & @rogerfederer & #NADAL BOTH PLAY TOMORROW BY @Dimonator http:…