Novak Djokovic briefly ran right into a spot of hassle as he fought his method into the third spherical of the Monte Carlo Masters with a 7-6(5) 6-2 victory towards Russian qualifier Ivan Gakhov on Tuesday.
The world primary, who had not performed since early March when he reached the ultimate in Dubai after being pressured to skip Indian Wells and Miami due to his COVID unvaccinated standing, struggled to search out his vary on the Monte Carlo clay earlier than prevailing on a sunlit centre court docket.
Gakhov went for his pictures and claimed the primary service break to steer 4-3, just for the Serbian to interrupt proper again and take the opening set by profitable the tiebreak 7-5.
Djokovic was then enterprise like within the second set, leaving no probability of a comeback for his opponent, who all of the sudden felt the court docket was too large for him.
The double French Open champion, who suffered an opening-round exit right here final yr, will subsequent face Lorenzo Musetti or the sixteenth seed’s Italian compatriot Luca Nardi.
German Alexander Zverev, who suffered a severe ankle damage in his French Open semi-final conflict towards Rafael Nadal, was again on the claycourts with a 3-6 6-2 6-4 first-round win towards Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.
Spain’s Nadal, who triumphed a report 11 occasions on the Monte Carlo Nation Membership, is absent after failing to recuperate from a hip damage that has stored him away from the courts because the Australian Open.
His compatriot Carlos Alcaraz can also be lacking the match with hand and again issues.
Afterward Tuesday, second seed Stefanos Tstitsipas will tackle Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.
This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.