Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo shakes fingers with Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (down) after successful the Monte Carlo ATP Masters Sequence Match spherical of 32 tennis match on the Ranier III courtroom on the Monte Carlo Nation Membership in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.
| Picture Credit score: AFP
Novak Djokovic’s newest bid to win a a hundredth profession title ended on Wednesday (April 8, 2025) in one other shock defeat to a well-recognized face.
Alejandro Tabilo, who handed the 24-time Grand Slam champion a stunning loss on the Italian Open final 12 months, beat Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 within the second spherical of the Monte Carlo Masters.
Again on clay, Djokovic mentioned afterward he did not have excessive expectations.
“I knew I’m going to have a troublesome opponent and I knew I’m going to most likely play fairly dangerous,” Djokovic mentioned. “However this dangerous, I didn’t count on.”
Djokovic, who just lately misplaced the Miami Open closing to Jakub Mensik, turns 38 subsequent month — shortly earlier than the French Open begins on Might 25.
Defending French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz earlier began his clay-court season by rallying to a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Francisco Cerundolo within the second spherical of
The second-seeded Alcaraz was coming off a stunning loss to Belgian veteran David Goffin in his first match on the Miami Open.
One other upset appeared potential when Cerundolo, ranked No. 22, took the primary set however Alcaraz dominated the remainder of the match and transformed 5 of his seven break factors throughout the second and third units.
Alcaraz is in search of a second title of 2025 and to finetune his clay-court sport forward of a bid to retain his title at Roland Garros beginning subsequent month.
Tabilo clinched victory on his second match level when Djokovic returned his sturdy serve lengthy.
Djokovic had saved one match level within the ninth sport when he was trailing 5-3 and 30-40 on his serve, clipping a neat drop shot over the online which his Chilean opponent couldn’t attain.
Djokovic then held for 5-4.
Lorenzo Musetti, the thirteenth seed, beat Jiri Lehecka 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 to arrange a last-16 match towards fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini, who beat top-seeded Alexander Zverev on Tuesday.
Daniil Medvedev overcame Alexandre Muller 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-2, and fourth-seeded Casper Ruud beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-1.
Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils, a pair of 38-year-old Frenchman, have been eradicated by Daniel Altmaier and seventh-seeded Andrey Rublev, respectively.
The Monte Carlo Masters is the primary large clay-court event of the 12 months on the ATP Tour.
Printed – April 10, 2025 02:31 am IST
