Defending champion Rublev out of Monte Carlo, Sinner strolls on

Monte Carlo — Defending champion Andrey Rublev was knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters in a 6-4 6-4 second-round loss to Australian Alexei Popyrin on Wednesday as world No 2 Jannik Sinner eased through his first test.

Popyrin broke in the third game of the first set, but Rublev broke to take a 3-1 lead in the second, only for the Australian hit back immediately.

A further break made it 5-4 to Popyrin and he held serve to reach the third round for the first time. Russian fifth seed Rublev had received a bye into the second round.

“The idea was not to give him the same ball,” Popyrin said. “He is probably the best player from the baseline when you give him rhythm, so I tried to change the pace, height and spin and I think it worked really well for me today.”

Popyrin will face fellow Australian Alex de Minaur next, after the 11th seed beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 2-6 6-2 6-3.

Italian Sinner, who won his first Major title at the Australian Open in January, eased into the third round with a 6-1 6-2 win over American Sebastian Korda.

Korda won their last meeting, in Adelaide in 2023, but was no match for the in-form Sinner, who also won this year’s Miami Open and Rotterdam Opens.

Sinner, who broke Korda in the opening game of the match and was never threatened, will next meet German Jan-Lennard Struff who he beat at Indian Wells in March.

Twice champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 12th seed, also reached the third round after crushing Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina 6-1 6-0 and will next face German fifth-seed Alexander Zverev.

World No 1 Novak Djokovic says his clinical win over Roman Safiullin was one of his best performances at the Monte Carlo Masters, adding that he was feeling great at the outset of a tournament where he has often struggled in recent years.

On Tuesday, Djokovic made an emphatic start with a 6-1 6-2 win over Russia’s Safiullin to ease into the third round.

The 36-year-old has won the Monte Carlo crown twice, but has failed to win more than two matches in any campaign since his last title in 2015.

“My feeling was great. I think it’s an accurate judgment from the people that it has been one of the best performances I had here in quite a few years,” the 24-times Grand Slam champion said.

“Monte Carlo is the first big tournament of the clay court season. You know, I haven’t been really able the last six, seven years to start off strong and start off well. I’ve always kind of struggled in this tournament.

“But again, it’s just the beginning of the tournament. It’s one match. I’m going to hope to work tomorrow to maintain that rhythm and focus, obviously try to perform as well as I did in the second match as well as I did today.”

The Serbian next faces Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti on Thursday.

Reuters