Marinko Matosevic of Australia returns the ball to Fernando Verdasco of Spain during their first round match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, yesterday.
MONTE CARLO, Monaco: Rafael Nadal lines up today against Australian Marinko Matosevic at the Monte Carlo Masters as the Spaniard begins his campaign for a record ninth straight trophy at the iconic venue.
Nadal’s opponent Matosevic faces the toughest ask in tennis after winning his first match on clay in almost a year to open Tuesday with a 7-5, 6-3 success over Fernando Verdasco.
Top seed Novak Djokovic meanwhile informed tournament director Zeljko Franulovic that he would be fit to make his start in the second round after a bye.
Djokovic has been putting in training and tests on his injured right ankle over the past few days. He will begin against Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who stands a respectable 3-4 in their career series.
Matosevic, the number 54 in the world, won’t have time to celebrate his upset of Spain’s former ace. Instead, he will become just the first obstacle placed in the path of Nadal, winner of his last 42 matches here at the Country Club overlooking the Mediterranean.
Matosevic sprang a surprise on Verdasco, the one-time clay powerhouse and 2010 runner-up here to Nadal, going through to the second round in a struggle as his Spanish opponent fought back at the end in the one-hour, 51-minute contest.
Matosevic saved nine of the dozen break points he faced while breaking the 31st-ranked Verdasco on five occasions. The Australian last won a clay match in the first round of French Open qualifying last May after earning his last ATP win on the surface in Munich a few weeks earlier.
In other first-round matches on a perfect, sunny day, Swiss 13th seed Stanislas Wawrinka beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-3, 7-5 while Spaniard Albert Ramos defeated Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3 as the 34-year-old Czech played his first ATP match since the Australian Open after undergoing surgery to ease pressure on a nerve. In the second round, the seeded French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet made winning starts.
Sixth seed Tsonga beat Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 while Richard Gasquet struggled before containing countryman Benoit Paire 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the third round. Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov upset eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7/3), 6-1, with the Serb double-faulting on a set point in the opening set.
Meanwhile, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has agreed to hear an appeal by Pakistan against the awarding of their Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group 11 tie to New Zealand, the Pakistan Tennis Federation said yesterday.
“It is a major breakthrough for us after we got confirmation from the ITF they will be hearing our appeal against the referee’s decision,” PTF secretary Mumtaz Yousuf said. Pakistan were disqualified from this month’s Davis Cup tie against New Zealand played in Yangon, Myanmar after Sri Lankan referee Ashita Ajigala ruled that the grass court had become unplayable and dangerous. The tie was played in Myanmar after New Zealand refused to visit Pakistan due to security concerns. AGENCIES
