Novak Djokovic will advance this Wednesday to round of 16 of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000. He did this after losing to 7-6(5) and 6-2 on his debut in second round in Russian Ivan Gakhov in a tough match lasting more than an hour and three quarters.
Predictions pointing to a quiet debut for the Serb have little to do with reality, in a match where Gakhov, number 198 in the world, played very loosely he knew he had nothing to lose. Searching for lines, he demanded the maximum from a Djokovic who raised the bar in the crucial moment of the first set to then comfortably dominate the second.
In fact, Gakhov made the first break of the match in the seventh game of the first set to go up 3-4. however, Djokovic’s reaction was to immediately walk towards the tie-break. Here the rest rose to win 7-5 and take the first set.
This situation took him off the pressure for second. Dominating from his serve, bold and finding lines in the depth of his shots, Gakhov fought back to 2-2. So, Djokovic, forced to find more depth on his shots, managed two straight breaks to go 6-2 up at the hour. and three quarters of the game where it is sometimes demanded.
So ‘Nole’ advances to the round of 16, where they will await the winner of the Italian duel between Lorenzo Musetti and Luca Nardi. In his first match of the season on clay, the Serbian found rhythm and adaptation to try to continue to improve in the level of play in the coming days in his attempt to dominate the Principality.
Source: La Verdad
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