RICKY DIMON REPORTS ON MONTE CARLO TENNIS UPDATE: FEDERER AND WAWRINKA LOSE, RAFA, NOVAK AND GRIGOR DIMITROV ALL ADVANCE

Written by: Staff on 16th April 2015

Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament

RICKY DIMON REPORTS ON MONTE CARLO TENNIS UPDATE: FEDERER AND WAWRINKA LOSE, RAFA, NOVAK AND GRIGOR DIMITROV ALL ADVANCE

epa04707366 Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria during their third round match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 16 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER |

Federer unable to join Djokovic and Nadal in Monte-Carlo quarterfinals

By Ricky Dimon

Last year’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters could not have gone any better for the Swiss. Both Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka reached the title match (won by Wawrinka in three sets). This year’s tournament, however, was a borderline disaster.

After winning their openers on Wednesday, Federer and Wawrinka were bounced out of Monte-Carlo during third-round action on Thursday. Following Wawrinka’s 6-1, 6-2 humiliation at the hands of Grigor Dimitrov, Federer ran into a red-hot Gael Monfils and lost 6-4, 7-6(5).

Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland returns the ball to Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria during their third round match for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 16 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER

Roger Federer of Switzerland returns the ball to Gael Monfils of France during their third round match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 16 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER

“It was not the best end to the match,” the world No. 2 lamented. “I should have done better with the break up in the first. I think I did a good job to hang around the second set. I also had chances of my own. It remained close, but I never felt like things were really happening the way I wanted them to be going during the whole match.”

As usual, things went exactly how Novak Djokovic wanted from start to finish. The top seed extended his winning streak to 14 matches by making routine 6-4, 6-0 work of Andreas Haider-Maurer. Haider-Maurer was the only unseeded participant in the entire third round and Djokovic treated him accordingly, disposing of the Austrian in a mere 56 minutes.

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates his victory against John Isner of US during their third round match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 16 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER

Not unexpectedly, Rafael Nadal had a much tougher day at the office against a far more dangerous opponent. An in-form John Isner player another strong match against Nadal but fell to 0-5 in the head-to-head series following a 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3 loss. The Spaniard struck seven aces without double-faulting as he prevailed in two hours and 20 minutes.

“My mentality in the third (set was) very positive,” Nadal explained. “The game, the level of tennis improved a little bit in the third than in the previous two sets. That’s very important for me. (I’m) very happy to be in quarterfinals; very important result for me.”

Nadal’s difficult draw continues on Friday in the form of a quarterfinal date with countryman David Ferrer. Djokovic will go up against Marin Cilic, while Dimitrov and Monfils will collide. The other quarterfinal pits Milos Raonic against Tomas Berdych.

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

Printable Draws

Men’s singles – click here

Men’s doubles – click here

Order of play – click here

Topics: ATP Monte Carlo, Federer, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Novak Djokovic, Rafa, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis News

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

April 16, 2015 at 12:55 pm

-@Dimonator REPORTS ON #MonteCarloTennis UPDATE FEDERER AND WAWRINKA LOSE, RAFA NOVAK AND @GrigorDimitrov ALL ADVANCE http://t.co/prLgDf9cpv
LifeIzJust says:

April 16, 2015 at 2:24 pm

RT @TennisNewsOne: RICKY DIMON REPORTS ON MONTE CARLO TENNIS UPDATE: FEDERER AND WAWRINKA LOSE, RAFA, NOVAK AND GRIGOR DI… http://t.co/92…
Dimonator says:

April 16, 2015 at 4:44 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: -@Dimonator REPORTS ON #MonteCarloTennis UPDATE FEDERER AND WAWRINKA LOSE, RAFA NOVAK AND @GrigorDimitrov ALL ADVANCE htt…