Andrey Rublev survived a second-round scare on Tuesday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters to earn his 250th tour-level win. The fifth seed rallied from a set down to defeat Spaniard Jaume Munar 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 at the clay-court event.
Rublev, who reached the final in the Principality in 2021, overpowered Munar, clubbing 36 winners and breaking Munar’s serve six times to advance after two hours and 12 minutes. It was a strong turnaround after losing the first set.
“The feeling was, ‘No way, I might be out in the first round of Monaco.’ Then, I don’t know, I started to feel I had to change something, I had to play more aggressive,” Rublev said in his on-court interview. “I cannot just push the ball because in the end he [was] running much better than me and in the end he [was] waiting for the right moment and he changed much easier [the direction] because I [was] not putting pressure on him.”
The 25-year-old now leads the World No. 83 Spaniard 2-1 in their ATP Head2Head series and will next face Karen Khachanov, Daniel Evans or qualifier Ilya Ivashka.
Earlier, Khachanov maintained his strong from when he cruised past 2022 Monte-Carlo finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 6-2 in 75 minutes. The World No. 11 has won five of his past six matches after advancing to the semi-finals in Miami earlier this month.
World No. 24 Davidovich Fokina will slip to at least World No. 37 next week following his first-round loss according to the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.
Alexander Zverev made a winning start to his clay-court season when he overcame Alexander Bublik 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The German was competing on the surface for the first time since he retired from his 2022 Roland Garros semi-final clash against Rafael Nadal due to a right ankle injury and he recovered from a slow start to move past Bublik in one hour and 58 minutes.
The 13th seed moved better on Court Rainier III as the first-round match went on. He slid into shots to strike 21 winners, while he committed nine unforced errors to earn his ninth win of the season.
[ATP APP]
“It felt awful at times to be honest, but he made me feel awful,” Zverev said. “Tactically he played well, he didn’t let me play my game at all. He didn’t let me have my rhythm and he almost won the match, just a few points here and there.
“I have had two weeks of practice now. It is the most natural surface for me. It usually takes me five or 10 minutes to get used to a clay court, but this year was a bit different. I needed to get the injury out of my head. I needed to get used to sliding again.”
Zverev, who has improved to 1-2 in his ATP Head2Head series against Bublik, will next play Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
The 25-year-old German is a two-time semi-finalist in Monte-Carlo, having enjoyed runs to the last four in 2018 and 2022. Six of Zverev’s 19 tour-level titles have come on clay, including at ATP Masters 1000 events in Rome (2017) and Madrid (2018, 22).