Monfils, lecture to a nervous Medvedev. And Djokovic is back number 1

Luca Marianantoni-Arianna Nardi

March 14
– Milan

Sensational in Indian Wells. World number 1 Daniil Medvedev clearly loses from Gael Monfils, world number 28, by 4-6 6-3 6-1 in the third round of the first Masters 1000 of the season and is forced to return the world leadership in the ranking to Novak Djokovic which will be published by the ATP next Monday 22 March. Two hours and six minutes of real suffering for the Russian who died at the beginning of the second set and finished the battle with bad numbers: 5 aces, 6 double fouls, 50% of firsts with a realization of 64% on the first and of just 50% with the second: 28 free errors by Medvedev and only 20 winning strokes. Monfils’ balance was also negative (28 winners and 30 free), but the Frenchman managed to make five breaks.

Just three weeks

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For Monfils it is the second victory against the reigning world number 1: the first he had obtained in Doha in 2009 when he beat Spaniard Rafael Nadal with a double 6-4. Overall, Monfils has beaten a player ranked in the top 5 in the world 13 times. The last time it happened was in Rio de Janeiro in 2018 when he beat Marin Cilic. Thus the first reign of the Russian tennis player who had overtaken the Serbian on Monday 28 February lasts only three weeks. But this week the Russian loses the 250 points for the victory in Marseille 2021 and Djokovic, while not playing, returns to the lead starting week 382 at the top of the ATP ranking.

400 times Rafa

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Having experienced a few too many thrills on his debut against Sebastian Korda, where he was forced to come back in the third set, this time Rafa Nadal takes the right amount of time to get rid of the British Daniel Evans (# 29 Atp). In fact, two partials were enough for the Majorcan champion to dismiss the practice of the third round and access the round of 16 of the Californian Masters 1000, with a score of 7-5 6-3 gained in an hour and 43 minutes of play. This is a result with a special flavor for Rafa who thus signs his 400th victory in the 1000 category tournaments; his also a streak of seventeen consecutive victories since the beginning of the season thanks to the successes obtained in the Melbourne, Australian Open and Acapulco tournaments. In the next round, the number four of the world ranking will face the winner of the match between the American Riley Opelka and the Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Paolini stop among women

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Jasmine Paolini’s journey in the women’s draw ends in the third round. The blue, after eliminating the number 3 in the world (and 2 on the board) Sabalenka, surrendered to the Swiss Golubic in three sets after a battle lasting two hours and 33 minutes. Final result 7-5 1-6 7-6 (4) for the Swiss, after Paolini had gone to serve for the match at 6-5 in the third set. Instead: break and tie-break dominated by the opponent of the Italian.