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regular-article-logo Saturday, 25 May 2024

Monte Carlo Masters: Alex de Minaur beats former champion Stan Wawrinka, makes second round

In other action, Novak Djokovic’s countryman Miomir Kecmanovic ended Matteo Berrettini’s winning run

Reuters Monte Carlo Published 10.04.24, 10:00 AM
Alex de Minaur

Alex de Minaur File image

Alex de Minaur notched up his 20th win of this season on Tuesday when he moved past former champion Stan Wawrinka on a wet day at the Monte Carlo Masters here.

After rain delayed the start of play by nearly two hours and 30 minutes, De Minaur breezed past Wawrinka 6-3, 6-0 in just 63 minutes.

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In other action, Novak Djokovic’s countryman Miomir Kecmanovic ended Matteo Berrettini’s winning run. Kecmanovic dispatched the Marrakech champion Berrettini 6-3, 6-1 in 75 minutes to set a third-round clash against Grigor Dimitrov.

De Minaur is making his fourth appearance here and has never advanced beyond the second round.

Hubert Hurkacz has made it to the second round with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) win, but was made to battle by Britain’s Jack Draper after the Polish 10th seed looked like dominating early on.

Hurkacz raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set but Draper rallied to level at 4-4, before the Pole broke serve to take the opener. Draper then broke to love twice to win the second set and force the decider.

With Hurkacz serving at 5-4 to win the match, Draper broke serve but it was a relieved Hurkacz who emerged victorious in the tiebreak.

Hurkacz, who also beat Draper at last year’s tournament, will face Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in the second round.

American Sebastian Korda also eased into the second round with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, finalist in 2022, but will face a much stiffer test when he takes on world No.2 Jannik Sinner in the next round.

“Obviously, he’s probably the best tennis player in the world right now,” Korda said ahead of meeting the Australian Open champion.

“He’s had an unbelievable season and it’s going to be our first meeting on the clay. I’m just going to try to go out there, try my best, and see what happens.”

Alcaraz withdraws

Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from the tournament due to a forearm injury, the Spanish No.3 seed said on Tuesday, with his place in the second round going to Lorenzo Sonego. Alcaraz, who successfully defended his Indian Wells title last month before losing to Grigor Dimitrov in the Miami Open quarter-finals, was due to face Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Alcaraz may also have an eye on his preparation ahead of the French Open, which begins on May 20.

“I have been working in Monte Carlo and trying to recover until the last minute from an injured pronator teres in my right arm, but it was not possible and I cannot play,” Alcaraz posted on social media.

“I was really looking forward to playing… See you next year.”

Italian Sonego, who lost in the second qualifying round to Roberto Bautista Agut, has been handed a second chance as a lucky loser, and will play Auguer-Aliassime who defeated another Italian, Luca Nardi in the first round.

On Monday, Ugo Humbert powered back after losing the opening set to defeat Federico Coria 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

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