Alexander Zverev beats Bautista Agut, Medvedev powers on in Monte Carlo
ATP Masters 1000 – Monte Carlo Masters – Monte-Carlo Country Club, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France – April 12, 2023 Germany’s Alexander Zverev in action during his round of 32 match against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
MONTE CARLO—Alexander Zverev continued to rebuild his confidence on clay with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the Monte Carlo Masters second round on Wednesday and will next face in-form Daniil Medvedev.
German 13th seed Zverev, who suffered a serious ankle injury in the French Open semi-finals last year, won his second match in as many days in his first appearance on the red dirt since the Roland Garros drama.
Article continues after this advertisementZverev broke for 3-2 in the first set and held serve to take it before breaking again in the fifth game of the second set.
Bautista Agut, however, broke the German’s serve to level at 3-3, only for Zverev to make the decisive break in the following game.
Russian Medvedev, winner of four hardcourt titles this year, continued his excellent start to the season with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Italian Lorenzo Sonego on a surface he has not enjoyed much success on in the past.
Article continues after this advertisement“I always struggle on clay,” said third seed Medvedev. “I’ve had some good matches where I still struggled. There’s no rhythm on clay, every bounce is a bad bounce and even when it’s good you’re expecting a bad bounce.”
RUUD MARCHES ON
ATP Masters 1000 – Monte Carlo Masters – Monte-Carlo Country Club, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France – April 12, 2023 Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in action during his round of 32 match against Germany’s Alexander Zverev REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
Casper Ruud, last year’s French Open runner-up, continued his preparations for the claycourt Grand Slam by battling past Botic van de Zandschulp 7-5 7-6(1), avenging a three-set defeat by the Dutchman in Miami last month.
“It’s never easy to start at a new tournament and against a player I’ve lost to before,” said Ruud, who claimed the Estoril title in the lead-up to Monte Carlo.
“I was a bit sloppy and didn’t take my chances but in this case I was a bit happy because I felt there was some unfinished business.”
Ruud next plays Jan-Lennard Struff who stunned 14th seed Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-2. Karen Khachanov also went through with a 7-6(2) 6-2 win over Ilya Ivashka while eighth seed Taylor Fritz overcame Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka 7-6(10) 6-2.
They were joined by Lorenzo Musetti, who blanked Luca Nardi 6-0 6-0 to set up a clash with world number one Novak Djokovic.
Miami runner-up Jannik Sinner advanced after his doubles partner Diego Schwartzman retired with a shoulder injury trailing 6-0 3-1.
Former U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem’s attempts to revive his career following a wrist injury were dealt another blow in a 6-2 6-4 loss to ninth-ranked Holger Rune.
The loss extended Thiem’s bid for a first win over a top-10 ranked player since November, 2020.
Denmark’s Rune next faces Matteo Berrettini, who celebrated his 27th birthday with a hard-fought 5-7 7-6(1) 6-4 victory over Francisco Cerundolo.
