Fast-rising Serb teen Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak to eight matches when he defeated former Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 at Masters Series Monte-Carlo Wednesday. Djokovic, who reached back-to-back Masters Series finals in Indian Wells and Miami (where he won the title), has won 13 of his past 14 matches.
Djokovic held serve 58 of 59 games during his title run in Miami but today dropped serve four times against Gaudio. He compensated by limiting Gaudio to just 42 per cent of first serve points won and breaking the Argentine seven times.
Last year Djokovic made his debut in Monte-Carlo, winning through qualifying but then losing to Roger Federer in three sets in the first round. Djokovic, 19, improved to an ATP-best 26-5 match record on the season. Last year he did not reach the 25-wins milestone until late July in Umag.
Third-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko became the highest-seeded casualty of the tournament to date when he fell to Swede Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 in 2 hrs., 45 mins. Davydenko, who dropped serve seven times, suffered his third consecutive defeat and slipped to a record of 15 wins and 10 losses on the year.
Sixth seed Tommy Robredo (pictured), playing his first clay court event since Sopot last year, enjoyed a routine 6-3, 6-2 win over Frenchman Arnaud Clement, who won just seven of 26 points on his second serve. Robredo next faces a challenging third-round match against Czech Tomas Berdych, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over German Benjamin Becker.
Former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, a back-to-back Monte-Carlo champion in 2002-03, dismissed Chilean Nicolas Massu 6-2, 6-0. The Spaniard lost just seven points on serve and did not face a break point. Since reaching the Vina del Mar final in early February, Massu has won just three of nine matches.
Ferrero next plays Russian Igor Andreev, who took out fourth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Andreev, who was the last player to defeat Rafael Nadal on clay (Valencia, 2005), earned 13 break point chances against Gonzalez and converted three.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Djokovic: "Today's match was difficult for me because it's my first match on the clay, different surface, different style of the game, and different movement. So I had to be more focused, and I still cannot find exactly the game for the clay. I gave him an opportunity to come back into the match and he used it. You know, he prefers this surface. He plays his best tennis on this surface.
"I need to be more patient on this surface. That is the fact which I was missing today, especially in the second set. I was too impatient trying to make a winner from every position, which is impossible on this surface."
Day 4: Nadal Sends Warning to Rivals
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