Alejandro Tabilo improved to 2-0 against Novak Djokovic with a stunning 6-3, 6-4 second-round win Wednesday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in Monaco.
The 27-year-old Chilean previously defeated the 24-time Grand Slam winner in straight sets last May in Rome, also on a clay court.
In Wednesday’s 88-minute victory, Tabilo saved two of three break points, won 81 percent (30 of 37) of the points on his first serve, and balanced 16 winners with 16 unforced errors. The third-seeded Djokovic had more winners (18) but also committed 29 unforced errors.
Including his first-round win against former champion Stan Wawrinka, it’s the first time since last August that Tabilo has won consecutive tour-level matches.
“It has been a tough year, so a little bit of the nerves were there,” Tabilo said. “I remembered last time what I did well and thankfully I served well today and it helped me a lot. It was an unreal match.”
Djokovic, 37, was playing his first match on clay since capturing the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. The Serbian star remains stuck on 99 career ATP Tour titles.
Tabilo’s third-round opponent will be No. 15 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who rallied past Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
In other action, No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain shook off an early stumble to post a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory against Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
“I didn’t start well. I made a lot of mistakes and I let him play inside the court, dominating the points,” Alcaraz said. “I just knew that I had to do something else, play more aggressively, and play my own tennis: drop shots, going to the net. I tried to return closer to the line and push him.”
No. 4 seed Casper Ruud of Norway defeated Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-1 in 68 minutes. No. 7 Andrey Rublev of Russia defeated France’s Gael Monfils 6-4, 7-6 (2) and No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia held off Chile’s Tomas Machac 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. No. 9 Daniil Medvedev of Russia logged a 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-2 victory over France’s Alexandre Muller.
No. 12 seed Arthur Fils of France was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, while Italian No. 13 seed Lorenzo Musetti outlasted Czech Jiri Lehecka 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 in 2 hours and 19 minutes. Australia’s Alexei Popyrin came from behind to down No. 14 seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Also advancing were German qualifier Daniel Altmaier, Portugal’s Nuno Borges and Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
–Field Level Media
