Monfils upsets Federer, Djokovic and Nadal cruise

Last year’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters could not have gone any better for the Swiss. Both Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka reached the title match (won by Wawrinka in three sets). This year’s tournament, however, was a borderline disaster.

After winning their openers on Wednesday, Federer and Wawrinka were bounced out of Monte-Carlo during third-round action on Thursday. Following Wawrinka’s 6-1, 6-2 humiliation at the hands of Grigor Dimitrov, Federer ran into a red-hot Gael Monfils and lost 6-4, 7-6(5).

“It was not the best end to the match,” the world No. 2 lamented. “I should have done better with the break up in the first. I think I did a good job to hang around the second set. I also had chances of my own. It remained close, but I never felt like things were really happening the way I wanted them to be going during the whole match.”

Monfils interview:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmX4qMAICkk]

Dimitrov interview:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q8X4JrUtVA]

As usual, things went exactly how Novak Djokovic wanted from start to finish. The top seed extended his winning streak to 14 matches by making routine 6-4, 6-0 work of Andreas Haider-Maurer. Haider-Maurer was the only unseeded participant in the entire third round and Djokovic treated him accordingly, disposing of the Austrian in a mere 56 minutes.

Not unexpectedly, Rafael Nadal had a much tougher day at the office against a far more dangerous opponent. An in-form John Isner player another strong match against Nadal but fell to 0-5 in the head-to-head series following a 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3 loss. The Spaniard struck seven aces without double-faulting as he prevailed in two hours and 20 minutes.

“My mentality in the third (set was) very positive,” Nadal explained. “The game, the level of tennis improved a little bit in the third than in the previous two sets. That’s very important for me. (I’m) very happy to be in quarterfinals; very important result for me.”

Nadal-Isner highlights:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klJCEeh8TAs]

Nadal’s difficult draw continues on Friday in the form of a quarterfinal date with countryman David Ferrer. Djokovic will go up against Marin Cilic, while Dimitrov and Monfils will collide. The other quarterfinal pits Milos Raonic against Tomas Berdych.

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