MONACO — After dominating on aggressive laborious courts, Jannik Sinner made a clean transition to softer clay by beating Sebastian Korda 6-1, 6-2 within the second spherical of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
However defending champion Andrey Rublev was eradicated after a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Alexei Popyrin.
The second-seeded Sinner gained 95% of factors on his first serve and saved all three break factors in enhancing his report to 23-1 this yr. He has three titles in 2024, together with the Australian Open — his first main trophy — and not too long ago the Miami Open.
“I moved fairly nicely in these circumstances,” stated the 22-year-old Italian, who reached the semifinals at Monte Carlo final yr. “Yearly it’s powerful to return right here and carry out nicely however I’m pleased with the efficiency.”
Sinner faces Jan-Lennard Struff on Thursday within the third spherical, the place he’ll be a part of two-time champions Novak Djokovic — who gained on Tuesday — and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Twelfth-seeded Tsitsipas routed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-1, 6-0 and subsequent faces No. 5 Alexander Zverev in a contest between huge servers. Djokovic takes on unseeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
The sixth-seeded Rublev dropped his serve thrice towards Popyrin, who subsequent faces No. 11 Alex de Minaur in an all-Australian contest on the Monte Carlo Nation Membership, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
“I’m feeling actually snug on (clay) and pleased to beat a man who was in type, assured and the defending champ,” Popyrin stated. “It was an superior match.”
De Minaur rallied previous unseeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev, who’s chasing his first title of the yr, gained 6-2, 6-4 towards French veteran Gaël Monfils, and two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud — seeded eighth — downed Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 6-4.
Later Wednesday, final yr’s runner-up Holger Rune confronted qualifier Sumit Nagal of India and No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov performed Miomir Kecmanovic.
Additionally within the second spherical, there have been wins for No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz, No. 14 Ugo Humbert, No. 15 Karen Khachanov and fortunate loser Lorenzo Sonego, who changed the injured Carlos Alcaraz after the Spaniard pulled out on Tuesday with a proper forearm damage.
Report 11-time Monte Carlo champion Rafael Nadal pulled out with a lingering damage earlier than the match.
