Fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece recorded a 6-3, 6-4 win over Aslan Karatsev of Russia on Tuesday in their second-round match at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco.
Tsitsipas smashed four aces en route to dispatching Karatsev in one hour, 24 minutes. He advanced to the third round of the tournament for the second straight edition.
“I’m putting (in) hours on the court, trying to become consistent (and) get close to the legends of our sport,” Tsitsipas said. “I am working every single day. I am very far from that, but it is definitely a dream of mine that I want to achieve one day.”
Tsitsipas will face the winner of the match pitting 16th-seeded Cristian Garin of Chile and John Millman of Australia. Garin posted a 7-6 (3), 6-1 win over Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in a rain-interrupted first-round clash that concluded Tuesday, while Millman notched a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ugo Humbert of France on Monday.
“The conditions were pretty different (from) yesterday,” said Garin, who won 11 of the 14 games played on Tuesday.
“(Monday), the court was pretty humid and today it was faster. I love these conditions. It is my favorite surface. … These matches help me a lot to keep looking at the things I have to improve. I am very happy to be playing here in Monte Carlo.”
Eighth-seeded Matteo Berrettini was not as fortunate on Tuesday. Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina benefited from three aces to collect a 7-5, 6-3 win over the Italian in a second-round match.
Ninth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain notched a 6-2, 7-5 win over Taylor Fritz, 12th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain secured a 7-5, 7-6 (4) win over Italian Stefano Travaglia, and 13th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland recorded a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Italian Thomas Fabbiano in first-round matches.
Also on Tuesday, 14th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria breezed to a 6-3, 6-4 win over German Jan-Lennard Struff, and 15th-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy secured a 6-2, 7-5 win over Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in first-round matches.
“It was difficult coming here with a bit of pressure,” said Fognini, who won the 2019 tournament. “Last week was a really bad week for me, so I tried to change something in my game, especially mentally, because when I am feeling good, (my) tennis is going the perfect way.”
Italians Marco Cecchinato, Lorenzo Sonego and Jannik Sinner, Frenchman Lucas Pouille, Argentina’s Federico Delbonis, Norway’s Casper Ruud and Russian Karen Khachanov each recorded straight-set wins in their respective first-round matches.
Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic was leading 6-1, 2-0 before advancing after Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili retired due to injury.
–Field Level Media
