Novak Djokovic suffered a straight-sets defeat to Alejandro Tabilo, while Carlos Alcaraz shrugged off an early scare to progress at the Monte-Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
Chile’s Tabilo handed Djokovic an unexpected 6-3 6-4 defeat on the clay court.
Although Djokovic expertly broke Tabilo in the first game of the match, Tabilo responded well grabbing three break-points in the next game and converting the third.
Tabilo broke Djokovic for a second time in the sixth game, putting him in control of the set. Errors haunted Djokovic’s play and Tabilo held firm to win that first set.
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Highlights of Jakub Mensik against Novak Djokovic from the final of the Miami Open
Djokovic sought to fight back in the next, but squandered further opportunities to break back before Tabilo secured the crucial break and was able to then serve out the second set.
It was his best win since beating Djokovic last year.
“A little bit of nerves were there,” Tabilo said. “It was an unreal match.”
Alcaraz through after early scare
Against Carlos Alcaraz, Francisco Cerundolo won the first set only to see the Wimbledon champion roar back to take the next two and win 3-6 6-0 6-1.
“I didn’t start well, I just wanted to get a good base at the beginning of the match, but I made a lot of mistakes. I think I let him play inside the court, dominate the points, so I was more in a defensive part,” Alcaraz admitted afterwards.
He took over after surrendering the first set. Alcaraz didn’t let Cerundolo win a game in the second as he changed his approach and he ran away with the third set too.
Alcaraz said: “After the first set I knew that I had to do something else. I had to play more aggressively. I had to play my own tennis.”
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Highlights of the quarter-final match between Carlos Alcaraz and Francisco Cerundolo at Indian Wells
He explained: “I enjoy that tennis, drop shots, going to the net, playing more aggressively. I think I did it pretty well. I think the first and the most important adjustment was the return. I just tried to return closer to the line, pushing him to defend the first ball and after that playing good and dominating the game.
“I think I did pretty well.”
The Spaniard will face Daniel Altmaier in the next round.
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