Wawrinka Sets Up Cuevas 3R In Monte-Carlo

Third seed and 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka will meet No. 16 seed Pablo Cuevas for a place in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters quarter-finals after the Swiss beat Jiri Vesely on Wednesday 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in 84 minutes for his 20th match win at the Monte-Carlo County Club.

Wawrinka opened up a 3-0 lead in the first set and despite losing his serve in the fifth game, he went on to clinch the 26-minute opener. The right-hander could not convert two break point opportunities in the second game of the second set and paid the price as Vesely broke to love for a 4-3 lead.

While Vesely, who beat Novak Djokovic in the second round last year, held on for the set, it was one-way traffic for Wawrinka in the decider. The match ended when Vesely hit his fourth double fault of the pair’s second meeting (2014 US Open).

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Elsewhere, sixth seed Dominic Thiem lost just four of his first service points (25/29) in a comprehensive 6-3, 6-2 victory over Robin Haase in 62 minutes for a third-round berth for the second straight year. Thiem goes on to face No. 10 seed David Goffin.

Pablo Carreno Busta, the No. 13 seed, who finished runner-up to Thiem in the Rio de Janeiro final earlier this year, will play second seed and 2013/15 champion Novak Djokovic after he knocked out #NextGenATP Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-4 in 88 minutes.