But No. 6 Tomas Berdych, last year’s runner-up, squandered eight break-point chances in losing to 99th-ranked Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-3.
Advertisement
The birth of Andy and Kim Murray’s first child seems to have had a positive effect on the World No. 2’s life, but a negative one on the manner in which he plays tennis. But the Czech, who had never beaten a top-10 player, sealed the win on his second match point in the next game when Djokovic’s forehand landed wide.
Murray, the tournament’s No. 2, sounded anxious after his match.
Number four Wawrinka, who also won the title at the seaside Monte Carlo Country Club over Roger Federer in 2014, will line up in the third round against French 15th seed Gilles Simon. “On this surface, you’ve got to be a bit more consistent”.
But Vesely took a comfort break, during which he afterwards admitted that he had given himself a good talking to: “I really had to get focused again because I completely lost concentration. The year I lost the Wimbledon final and won the Olympics, once I’d accepted that maybe I wasn’t going to win the event, maybe I wouldn’t win a slam, that relaxed me”. Points were cut short by virtue of me serving better and returning better, getting second serves, taking advantage of that fact.
350 – Nadal will look to become the sixth man to win 350 matches on clay. So it was nice to go through all these emotions. “I think he can do the 10th one, yeah”, Bedene said. “I was very pleased how I felt, how I played”.
“Sometimes, you sort of show up somewhere with no expectations. So we’ll see how I feel tomorrow, tonight, the next day”, Federer said. Federer, who plays his first match at the traditional opening event of the European clay-court season against Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, had knee surgery following the Australian Open in January.
The Scot has yet to regain his top form two months after becoming a father. “I just managed to turn it around at the end”.
“I’m playing well, at the moment I’m enjoying playing tennis”. “I’m not sure exactly what happened with my body”, Sock said. That’s really the best match I played in the last couple of months. “I hoped to win a game, hoped to do well”. I’m a lot more happy off the court than I ever have been before.
Last year, he rose to 35 in the rankings after claiming a first title in Auckland and then reached the final on Bucharest’s clay, but until April this year, he had won just one match in eight, before putting together a good semi run in Marrakech last weekend.
Advertisement
Nadal improved his record in this tournament to 54-4 with an impressive display, winding up with some powerful backhands and deft drop shots.
