Surreal Nadal and stuttering Djokovic reach third round

Rafael Nadal is to clay as the Blue Whale is to the ocean – the Emperor of Red Dirt took to the terra battue at the Monte Carlo Country Club with proverbial ease, coasting to an effortless 6-1, 6-2 victory over a clueless Marinko Matosevic, who was swept away by a rampant Mediterranean storm. In sharp contrast, Novak Djokovic, who made a late decision to play this week, stumbled to lose the first set before recovering just in time to trip Mikhail Youzhny 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 and advance to the third round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Monaco.

Nadal, playing with the authority that comes with winning an event eight times in a row, leapt into a parallel universe to take a 4-0 lead and relegate his opponent into celebrating the odd point and then a solitary game with raised arms in mock acknowledgement of an empathetic wave of support from the stands. It was all he could afford, even as Nadal raced away with the set in just 25 minutes.

In an abrupt twist, Nadal had a poor service game and Matosevic took advantage to relish being in the lead for the first time in the match. The Aussie had two points to take a 3-0 lead, but Nadal stemmed the tide with a forehand down the line winner to save the first and Matosevic dumped one in the net to squander the second opportunity. It was all Nadal from there, as the Spaniard reeled off six straight games to wrap up his spot in the third round against Philipp Kohlschreiber.

In stark contrast, Djokovic was at the receiving end early in his match against Youzhny. The Russian took advantage of the tentative Djokovic to break twice and take a commanding 5-1 lead. The Serbian set about repairing the situation by breaking his opponent at love in the eighth game to claw back to 5-4, but Youzhny held his nerve to wrap up the set on his first opportunity.

But the first set helped Djokovic warm up to the conditions and the match began to turn his way. The Serbian had two chances to take a 2-0 lead, but the Russian saved them both to hold his own. The world No.1 took charge thereafter to convert two other chances as he strung together a sequence of seven games that helped him take the second set and build a 2-0 lead in the final set.

The Russian delayed the end, when he converted his only chance of the set in the sixth game to draw even at 3-3. Youzhny showcased his resolve by holding Djokovic at bay in the next game by saving three break points, but the momentum had already turned. Djokovic made the decisive break in the ninth game when an attempted backhand drop shot from his opponent found the net.

The Serbian served out the match in the next game to reach the third round. The Serbian will meet Juan Monaco for a place in the quarters. “I’m very happy to win. I’m just happy to compete, to be honest,” admitted Djokovic. “I didn’t know if I’m going to be playing the tournament up to yesterday basically. I know that my game is still not there, obviously, and I had a lot of ups and downs throughout the match.”

The only thing that might be able to contest Ernests Gulbis for fickleness might be the English weather on an overcast summer afternoon. Juan Monaco took advantage to serve out a bagel to the take the first set. At 3-1 for Monaco, in the second set, it looked like the match was headed for a breezy finish. But the unpredictable Gulbis changed colours to reel off five straight games to take the match into a third set.

Gulbis was already under the radar, for smashing a racket in the first set. Serving at 0-1 in the third, the Latvian invited a point penalty when he kicked the ball into the stands in frustration. His agony was magnified when he was broken and Gulbis sought release in another bout of racket busting. The umpire had enough by then and Monaco took a free ride to gain a 3-0 lead. Monaco developed cold feet while serving for the match at 5-1, but completed the rites in the ninth game to put the Latvian out of his self-inflicted misery.

Gulbis made an incredible 53 unforced errors in a listless match that was completely in disagreement with his recent run that had him winning 17 of his last 18 matches. The Argentine’s reward for his efforts was a third round encounter against Djokovic. World No. 2 Andy Murray had a pleasant start to his campaign on clay, with an easy 6-1, 6-4 victory over Edouard Roger-Vasselin. It was Murray’s 399^th career victory and improved him to 20-2 this year. Murray broke serve four times to waltz through to the third round.

Stanislas Wawrinka, Murray’s opponent in the next round, needed just 54 minutes to oust Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-1 and reach the round of 16. Marin Cilic set up a promising encounter against Richard Gasquet with a fluent 6-2, 6-3 victory over the Casablanca finalist Kevin Anderson. Nicolas Almagro, also a finalist last week (Houston), was upset by Jurgen Melzer. The Austrian had a surprisingly one sided 6-4, 6-2 victory over the 10^th seeded Spaniard and will play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his next match.

The fourth seed Tomas Berdych had no such problems, even though he was made to work hard for a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Marcel Granollers. The Frenchman served for the first set at 5-4, but failed to hold and the Czech won the next three games to take the lead. Berdych was also down a break in the second set, but pulled back to finish the match in two sets. Italian Fabio Fognini will be the Czech player’s opponent in the next round.

The biggest surprise on the day was Milos Raonic. The Canadian lost to Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 6-1, 6-7(3) to reach the third round, where Juan Martin Del Potro is already in waiting. German Florian Mayer had a terrific come from behind victory over Roberto Bautista-Agut 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the third round.

With the field fast whittling down, Thursday will feature the last 16 who will all step on court to battle for a place in the quarter-finals. Tsonga will open the action on Court Central, followed by Nadal. Murray will be third on court and Djokovic will round up the action for the day. In the doubles, Leander Paes and Jurgen Melzer will take on the reunited Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in the second match on Court 2.

Round of 16

[6] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) v Jurgen Melzer (AUT)

[16] Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) v [3] Rafael Nadal (ESP)

[13] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) v [2] Andy Murray (GBR)

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) v [14] Juan Monaco (ARG)

[4] Tomas Berdych (CZE) v Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) v Florian Mayer (GER)

[9] Marin Cilic (CRO) v [7] Richard Gasquet (FRA)

Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) v [WC/5] Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)