Monte Carlo Masters: Following the first-round departures of Andy Murray and Cam Norrie on Monday, British interest in the Monte Carlo Masters was put to an end on Tuesday when both Dan Evans and Jack Draper were eliminated.
English No. 2 Ilya Ivashka, a qualifier, defeated Evans in their first-round match 2-6 6-2 6-3, then Draper lost to Polish 10-seed Hubert Hurkacz 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 in the second round.
Evans easily won the opening set, but he was unable to keep it up as Ivashka fought back to set up a second-round match with his brother-in-law Karen Khachanov.
Evans got the match started in the greatest way imaginable as he broke Ivashka in the first game. He then played some excellent tennis to quickly build a 4-0 lead and win the opening set 6-2.
Ivashka fought back to win the opening game of the second set on service, and she then broke at the second opportunity to take the lead, 3-1. The match was tied after Evans held to love in the sixth game of the set but missed a breakpoint to fall behind 5-2 in the following game.
Evans missed a second break point in the third set, which ended with a score of 3-3, before Ivashka made the winning play in the eighth game and cruised to victory.
Despite a valiant attempt against Hurcakz, Evans’ fellow countryman Draper was eliminated in the second round. The British No. 4 at age 21 lost the opening set, but a tie-break in the second set allowed him to claw his way back into the match.
In the third set, Draper fell behind 4-2 but quickly broke back to even the score at 4-4. At 5-6 and 40-0 up on his serve, Hurkacz pushed himself to within one point of a crucial tie-break, but he then won five straight games to advance.
Djokovic triumphs in Monte Carlo following a month off.
After he battled his way past qualifier Ivan Gakhov with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 triumph, Novak Djokovic briefly got into some trouble.
Djokovic struggled to find his range on the Monte Carlo clay before ultimately winning in straight sets. He hadn’t played since early March when he advanced to the semifinals in Dubai after being forced to leave the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami because to his Covid-19 vaccination status.
Gakhov took chances and won the first service break to take the lead at 4-3, but the Serbian broke back immediately and won the tiebreak 7-5 to win the opening set.
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