Someone must have wound up Federer’s Rolex so he thought he had little time on court before an important appointment, because he raced to 5-0 in the style of someone fashionably in a hurry to win. Stepanek didn’t have time to do any of his usual funky moves before he found himself down a set and a break in yesterday’s second round of Monte Carlo Masters. In the end he managed to get the look of a break point, but Federer saved it and soon scribbled his signature on the camera in a flashy 6-1 6-2 affair.
His countryman Wavrinka, whose form I doubted after his head-shaking and nerve-wrecking Davis Cup performance, didn’t want to stay out any longer. Instead he completely smashed Marin Cilic 6-0 6-2! Impressive feat, since Cilic is definitely a dangerous player also on clay.
Nadal started nervously as usual and went a break down to 0-2, but then he righted the ship against Gabashvili and the Bull from Manacor rode into the sunset 6-4 6-1.
I didn’t make many of my predictions from yesterday since many of them were upsets, but great clay-court talent Carreno Busta beat Monfils and Dolgopolov had to bite the red dust against in-form Garcia-Lopez.
As you can see below, we have some very exciting matches today! Wavrinka vs Almagro, Tsonga vs Fognini and Ferrer vs Dimitrov might be the toughest ones to predict. But I’ll try – my predictions in bold below.
Yesterday’s results and today’s schedule at Monte Carlo Masters.
RESULTS – WEDNESDAY, 16 APRIL 2014
Singles – Second Round
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [Q] T Gabashvili (RUS) 64 61
[3] S Wawrinka (SUI) d M Cilic (CRO) 60 62
[4] [WC] R Federer (SUI) d R Stepanek (CZE) 61 62
[8] M Raonic (CAN) d Y Lu (TPE) 67(4) 62 61
[10] F Fognini (ITA) d R Bautista Agut (ESP) 76(6) 64
[11] T Robredo (ESP) d J Benneteau (FRA) 46 60 61
[12] G Dimitrov (BUL) d [Q] A Ramos (ESP) 46 63 64
[15] N Almagro (ESP) d N Mahut (FRA) 76(3) 63
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) d [17] A Dolgopolov (UKR) 61 75
A Seppi (ITA) d P Andujar (ESP) 76(5) 57 64
L Rosol (CZE) d [Q] M Llodra (FRA) 64 64
[LL] P Carreno Busta (ESP) d G Monfils (FRA) 63 76(6)
SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, 17 APRIL 2014
COURT CENTRAL start 10:30 am
[9] J Tsonga (FRA) vs [10] F Fognini (ITA)
[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs A Seppi (ITA)
L Rosol (CZE) vs [4] [WC] R Federer (SUI)
[LL] P Carreno Busta (ESP) vs [2] N Djokovic (SRB)
COURT DES PRINCES start 10:30 am
[11] T Robredo (ESP) vs [8] M Raonic (CAN)
Not Before 12:30 pm
[3] S Wawrinka (SUI) vs [15] N Almagro (ESP)
[12] G Dimitrov (BUL) vs [6] D Ferrer (ESP)
[5] T Berdych (CZE) vs G Garcia-Lopez (ESP)