{"id":46920,"date":"2023-04-11T18:43:25","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T18:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo"},"modified":"2023-04-11T19:02:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T19:02:37","slug":"djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Novak Djokovic made a winning return to competition in the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday but was made to work by his 198th-ranked Russian opponent as two-time defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced when his rival retired injured.<\/p>\n

Djokovic is back on court after failing to get a waiver to enter the United States for last month’s Indian Wells tournament and Miami Open due to his anti-Covid vaccination stance.<\/p>\n

The world number one was in danger of losing the opening set against Russian qualifier Ivan Gakhov before easing through 7-6 (7\/5), 6-2 in 1hr 47min.<\/p>\n

“I had never seen him play before today, and it’s always difficult to face an opponent you don’t know,” said the Serbian, a winner on clay in Monte Carlo in 2013 and 2015.<\/p>\n

Favourite for a third crown in the Principality in the absence of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, Djokovic will face either 21st-ranked Lorenzo Musetti or Luca Nardi, 159th, both Italian, for a place in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Tsitsipas advanced to the third round after Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi retired with a left wrist issue after just 22 minutes, trailing the Greek 4-1 in the first set.<\/p>\n

World number three Tsitsipas next meets either Chilean Nicolas Jarry, ranked 58, or Australian Alexei Popyrin, 94th, for a place in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Djokovic is tuning up for a 23rd Grand Slam bid at the French Open. But the game was not as easy as expected with Gakhov taking the first break to lead 4-3.<\/p>\n

Djokovic broke back immediately, but could not prevent the tie-break which he wrapped up on his first set point.<\/p>\n

The second set was one-sided even though Gakhov hung on until the end.<\/p>\n

“It was probably, if you can call it this way, an ugly tennis win for me today,” said Djokovic, who is looking for a record-extending 39th ATP Masters title this week.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t played my best, particularly in the first set. And I kind of expected that that was going to happen in a way with swirly conditions, a lot of wind today, changing directions.<\/p>\n

“It’s different practising and then playing an official match on clay.<\/p>\n

“But all in all, I’m just pleased with the way I held my nerves I think in the important moments and I managed to clinch the two-set win.”<\/p>\n

Earlier Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev both survived dropping a set, but last year’s runner-up Alejandro Davidovich Fokina fell at the first hurdle.<\/p>\n

Fifth-seeded Rublev, recipient of a first-round bye, rallied to beat Spaniard Jaume Munar 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in their second-round tie.<\/p>\n

German Zverev made a hesitant start to his clay-court season before seeing off Kazakh Alexander Bublik 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round.<\/p>\n

“The feeling was, ‘No way, I might be out in the first round of Monaco’,” said Rublev, 25, who will face fellow Russian Khachanov, Dan Evans or qualifier Ilya Ivashka in the third round.<\/p>\n

Zverev was back on clay for the first time since he retired in the French Open semi-finals last year against Rafael Nadal with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

The 13th-seeded German took just under two hours to move past Bublik.<\/p>\n

“It felt awful at times to be honest,” Zverev said.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Zverev, a two-time Monte Carlo semi-finalist, will next play Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in the third round.<\/p>\n

Spaniard Davidovich Fokina fell 6-2, 6-2 to ninth seed Karen Khachanov.<\/p>\n

Khachanov took 75 minutes to brush past Davidovich Fokina, who lost the final last year to Tsitsipas.<\/p>\n

Italian Lorenzo Sonego saved four match points to beat French qualifier Ugo Humbert 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 and plays third seed Daniil Medvedev in the second round.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Novak Djokovic made a winning return to competition in the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday but was made to work by his 198th-ranked Russian opponent as two-time defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced when his rival retired injured. Djokovic is back on court after failing to get a waiver to enter the United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-46920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nDjokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Novak Djokovic made a winning return to competition in the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday but was made to work by his 19 ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Novak Djokovic made a winning return to competition in the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday but was made to work by his 19 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-11T18:43:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-11T19:02:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"459\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-11T18:43:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-11T19:02:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo\"},\"wordCount\":664,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo\",\"name\":\"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-11T18:43:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-11T19:02:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Novak Djokovic made a winning return to competition in the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday but was made to work by his 19 ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":459,\"caption\":\"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo - South Africa","description":"Novak Djokovic made a winning return to competition in the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday but was made to work by his 19 ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo","og_description":"Novak Djokovic made a winning return to competition in the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday but was made to work by his 19 ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-04-11T18:43:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-11T19:02:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":459,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo","datePublished":"2023-04-11T18:43:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-11T19:02:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo"},"wordCount":664,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo","name":"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-11T18:43:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-11T19:02:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Novak Djokovic made a winning return to competition in the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday but was made to work by his 19 ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681222412.59-1.jpg","width":720,"height":459,"caption":"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/djokovic-labours-to-win-tsitsipas-advances-in-monte-carlo#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Djokovic labours to win, Tsitsipas advances in Monte Carlo"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}