No. 77 Nick Kyrgios, +17
The show-stopping Australian continues his surge up the ATP Rankings after a semi-final run in his first clay tournament since 2019 at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. Kyrgios showed no signs of rustiness on the red dirt as he produced an aggressive opening-round display to defeat Mackenzie McDonald for the first time, with the former World No. 13 also taking out Tommy Paul before falling to eventual champion Reilly Opelka.

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No. 23 John Isner, +4
The 36-year-old American rises four spots despite missing out on a 17th tour-level title in Houston. Isner, who lifted the trophy in Texas in 2013, defeated fellow former champions Steve Johnson and Cristian Garin before losing out in a ‘Battle of the Bots’ championship match with Reilly Opelka, the tallest ATP Tour final in the Open Era. Read Houston Final Report & Watch Highlights.

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No. 47 David Goffin, +27
Former World No. 7 Goffin has struggled to find his form after returning from a knee injury at the start of the year, arriving at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech with a 6-9 record for the season. The Belgian surges back into the Top 50 this week, however, after clinching a sixth ATP Tour title at the ATP 250 event on the clay in Morocco. Goffin defeated three-time champion Pablo Andujar en route to the final, where he overcame Alex Molcan in three sets to lift a first tour-level trophy since February 2021. Read Marrakech Final Report & Watch Highlights.

No. 50 Alex Molcan, +15 (Career High)
Slovakia’s Molcan may have missed out on a maiden tour-level crown but the 24-year-old’s exploits in North Africa carry him into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings for the first time. Molcan’s impressive run included upsets of three seeded opponents in Felix Auger-Aliassime, Botic van de Zandschulp and Laslo Djere, as he marched to a second ATP Tour final before being edged out by Goffin.

No. 79 Holger Rune, +12 (Career High)
A busy weekend for the #NextGenATP Dane sees him makes further inroads into the Top 100 at the tender age of 18. Rune lifted a fifth ATP Challenger Tour title in Sanremo, Italy on Saturday lunchtime after defeating Francesco Passaro in the championship match before hotfooting it to Monte Carlo for the first round of qualifying for the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters later that day. There he overcame Radu Albot, before taking out Maxime Cressy on Sunday to qualify for the main draw at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 28 Frances Tiafoe, +2 (Career High)
No. 33 Tommy Paul, +1 (Career High)
No. 41 Botic van de Zandschulp, +2 (Career High)
No. 55 Federico Coria, +5 (Career High)
No. 95 Tomas Martin Etcheverry, +11 (Career High)

Casper Ruud is flying higher than ever entering the European clay-court season. At a career-high No. 7 in the ATP Rankings, the Norwegian is fresh off reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Miami.

Ruud will happily take a lot of confidence from that run moving onto his favourite surface. This week, he is the fourth seed at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

“It gives me confidence. It shows me I’m able to reach the final of ATP Masters 1000 events,” Ruud told ATPTour.com. “Since we started after the Covid break, I was able to reach three semis of Masters 1000s on clay, and was never was able to reach a final. So to be able to reach a final for the first time [at this level] was a good feeling.

“It’s always fun to play in a final, the most fun obviously is to win them. But to just be in the final and get that experience was something very exciting and motivating for the future, of course.”

Ruud explained why he feels some of the best clay-court players in the world are as good as they are on the surface.

Rafael Nadal
I have practised with him quite a bit and I think he never gives you room to breathe when you play against him on clay. All the shots he produces are very heavy to face because he puts a lot of topspin and they bounce very high. Any time you need to play a shot above shoulder height from the baseline or when you play groundstrokes, it’s tough. It’s tough to get good enough depth back when he plays these heavy shots, so he gets a chance many times to move forward and go for an aggressive shot.

He sets up the point very well and many times the same way. He likes to dominate points with his forehand and I think the majority of his clay-court career, he has been very successful playing his forehand heavy crosscourt to his opponent’s backhand, usually when he plays right-handed players. Most players struggle with his shots and it’s very normal because they’re very heavy. I think this is what makes him so successful.

He plays every point very, very strictly and with order, like it’s his last point. I have heard him say that many times before and that’s the reason he never gives you room to breathe. You don’t get too many free points from him in a match or when you play points [in practice]. With the clay, sometimes it’s more physically demanding because you play longer rallies and longer matches, and he’s there ready for it.

Novak Djokovic
He plays a little bit differently from Rafa. He plays a little bit further in to the court and the thing with Novak is that his backhand is so pure and so good, that even though many clay-court players like Rafa like to push the backhand of their opponent because it’s tough with the high bounce, with the heaviness, Novak stands against it better than anybody else because he has such good control with his backhand.

It makes it tough to find any holes in his game and his forehand is no weakness either, so he can produce winners and good defensive shots from both sides all the time. He has the package where you can’t really rest in any corner of the court when you play against him because either he plays with his backhand and he will push you with it and also with his forehand he can produce great angles and different shots.

Obviously he’s one of the best movers on Tour. He can get to certain balls and play defence like no other player, so I think that’s what makes him as tough as he is both on hard court and clay. But on clay, he is able to step into the court and take those heavy shots that you try to play at him a little bit more on the rise and play it with good depth back to you.

Dominic Thiem
Dominic is more similar to Rafa. He plays with great intensity and heavy shots, with both the forehand and the backhand, but especially the forehand. [I think] he puts a little more spin [on the forehand].

The backhand is also dangerous because he can do many things with it. He can slice it very well, he can play open stance with the one-handed backhand, which is not easy, and then he can also step in and rip it down the line very flat and aggressively. It’s tough to find spots where you can really rest if you have a tough rally because he has all the shots.

His kick serve is very, very good, which helps a lot on clay. He opens the court very well to set up big forehands and big groundstrokes. He’s quick, he moves around well, he makes you play tough, physical rallies from the baseline. He’s obviously one of the tougher players to play on clay and he has proved it. He has played the final of the French Open two times and won big tournaments on the surface.

Carlos Alcaraz
He can play on all surfaces because he plays aggressive, but he also plays with a decent amount of topspin — the forehand even more than the backhand. What impressed me last year when we played on clay was how aggressive he was able to stay and how far into the court he was able to hit most of his shots.

At the same time, like the others I’ve mentioned, he moves incredibly well. He can also play great defensive shots and counter-attack very well. He also has a good kick serve, which opens the court well.

Alexander Zverev
He’s one of the more successful clay-court players of the younger generation. He has won Madrid two times and he has won Rome as well. That’s a pretty good stat to have on clay and I think he doesn’t necessarily play with too much spin, but he returns very, very well. He stands further back most of the time and he doesn’t play heavy in terms of a lot of topspin, but he plays heavy shots because he produces good power, speed and depth pretty much all the time.

You don’t find any holes on the backhand side and of course he also serves well, so he gets some free points with his serve, which is nice on the surface, because usually you need to play more rallies if you don’t have a great serve. He serves well, he returns well and he plays with good depth pretty much all the time, so it’s tough to attack him. That’s where Sascha is dangerous on the surface.

* * *
Those are not all of the players Ruud feels are tough opponents on clay. In fact, one player who troubles the Norwegian might surprise you.

“I have a pretty bad record against Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Maybe he’s not a guy who is talked about too much,” Ruud said. “I also find Diego Schwartzman a tough player on clay. He moves very well, he puts a lot of balls back. His serve is quite tricky in a way and I think he spends a lot of hours on clay every year and likes to play on the surface. He’s beaten Rafa before on clay. Not too many players around the world have done that, but there are also other players who are very good on the surface.

“Stefanos Tsitsipas was a finalist last year at Roland Garros and I’ve played Matteo Berrettini a couple of times on clay, we’ve had some tough battles. Andrey Rublev also, even though you maybe don’t think of him as a good clay-court player, he plays very well and he made the final last year in Monte-Carlo and beat Rafa as well. There are a lot of guys who can actually play very well on the surface.”

It has been 13 months and two left foot surgeries since Stan Wawrinka has competed in a tour-level event, but the former World No. 3 is back at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Before his singles return Monday, the Swiss was brutally honest about the difficulty of his recovery.

“[It is] not a miracle, I wouldn’t say that, but it was very long and difficult, more than a year. I thought I would be [out] only a few weeks. It lasted a whole year with many moments of doubts. It was extremely long and tough,” Wawrinka said. “I really needed to have the willpower to come back, to have the strength to go through rehab and everything, and I’m very happy to be here now.”

After undergoing his first foot surgery last year on 25 March, Wawrinka wrote on social media, “I will be out for a few weeks but can’t wait to start practising again soon.” A couple of weeks later he posted a video of himself doing rehab at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. All seemed to be going well. On 2 May, he shared a picture of himself hitting his trademark one-handed backhand on the practice court.

 

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But a devastating blow came for the 16-time tour-level titlist when in June he had to make another social media post from a hospital bed.

“Same place, different day, not where I wanted to be but still a smile on my face,” Wawrinka wrote.

The Swiss had underwent another foot surgery. Was he afraid he would never make it back?

“Of course there were those questions in my mind. I was afraid things wouldn’t happen the way I wanted them to happen, and when you have those difficult times and those doubts, you know you need to go through rehab to be able to live a normal daily life anyway,” Wawrinka said. “So in my mind, one way or the other, I knew I would want to come back. Maybe saying good-bye, having pain would be an option, but for the time being things are going well.

“I can practise a lot, which is good. I hope I’ll be able to do that the whole year.”

^{Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka play mini-tennis at Casino Square in Monte Carlo. Photo Credit: Stephane Danna/Realis}
Now 37 and outside the Top 200 in the ATP Rankings, Wawrinka knows he has to work his way back into form, and that it will not happen with a snap of his fingers. Two weeks ago, he competed at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Marbella, where he lost in the first round against Swede Elias Ymer.

“Of course I’m far from being as fit as I want to. I need to work a lot physically and tennis-wise too,” Wawrinka said. “But this happens with tournaments, with matches, but I also am happy to be at that level right now compared to when I started playing again.”

Wawrinka knows competing at an event like the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters is challenging, with the world’s best players in the draw. But it is also an opportunity for him to regain rhythm at the top level.

“Mainly what I need is practise with the best players, [to] practise a lot. I only started playing again at the end of the month of February, so I don’t have a lot of tennis under my belt,” Wawrinka said. “I have to go through this. My level is pretty good in practice, but of course I need to find also my game during matches. The puzzle is a bit complicated. Sometimes you need time before you are able to coordinate all this.

“So I need to be patient with myself. I need to try to do the right things and practise a lot and stay positive, even if sometimes I feel very frustrated, because I can see what I need to do and I can’t do it.”

The 2014 Monte Carlo champion will try to continue making strides in the right direction, starting with his first-round match Monday against Alexander Bublik. It helps that Wawrinka is making his tour-level at a venue with which he is quite familiar.

“It’s a place I like very much. I spend a lot of time here at the club to prepare myself, to practise. I do a lot of my preparations here. The weather is ideal. The conditions are perfect,” Wawrinka said. “I won this tournament in 2014, and it’s a pleasure to be back here.”

In Sunday’s edition of “Battle of the Bots”, Reilly Opelka emerged with the win and a title.

Opelka defeated John Isner 6-3, 7-6(7) to triumph at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Clay Court Championship and lift his fourth ATP Tour trophy and his first on clay. The clash between 6’11” Opelka and 6’10” Isner marked the tallest ATP Tour final in the Open Era.

“He was my idol growing up as a kid, and before I even met him, I liked him. But since we’ve become such good friend and spent so much time on Tour, I like him even more now,” Opelka said of Isner during the trophy ceremony. “He’s been an unbelievable role model for not just myself, [but] Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul. We all say the same. He’s been an unbelievable competitor for a long time.”

Opelka and Isner often joke with one another that they are “Servebots” — or “Bots” for short — who are only known for their serving. But there were 13 break points in the one-hour, 50 -minute match and five mini-breaks in the second-set tie-break, with the clash coming down to returns and passing shots in the critical moments.

Opelka, who earned the lone break of the match in the first set, saved three set points in the second-set tie-break, rallying from 4/6 down to claim his fifth consecutive win against Isner. The younger American now leads their ATP Head2Head series 5-1 and has won 11 of their 14 sets during that stretch.

“We’ve played a handful of times and you keep on beating me. I hate you for that!” Isner joked. “But it was really cool to play you in a final. I think that’s very unique. Obviously there are a lot of similarities between Reilly and I, but I’m much older than him and he has a lot more years ahead of him on Tour, so for me to get to play you in a final, I think that’s very, very special.”

Entering the match, there had been no breaks in the pair’s three most recent matches. The last break of serve in their rivalry came at the 2019 Australian Open, when both men broke once.

Isner had an early look to break that streak when he lined up an inside-out forehand on break point, but he jammed himself and missed wide. Opelka took full advantage at 4-3 and Isner was unable to adjust to a tough bounce on the forehand side.

That ended up being the only break of the match, but both players put pressure on their opponent’s serve throughout the encounter. Opelka saved all eight break points he faced, as Isner struggled to put an emphatic return in the court in those moments. 

Opelka’s backhand return shone through when it mattered the most and although Isner showed courage to rush the net on big points, his countryman often was able to put the ball at his shoestrings to make things difficult. The 24-year-old converted his first championship point when he hit a tough backhand return at the serve-and-volleying Isner, who missed a backhand volley wide.

In his third final of the season — good for second-best on Tour behind only Rafael Nadal (4) — Opelka captured his second title of 2022. The 24-year-old also earned the winner’s hardware in Dallas. All four of his tour-level trophies have come in the United States, but this was his first on clay.

Isner was trying to win his 17th ATP Tour title, and a victory in Houston would have marked his 15th tour-level trophy on home soil. He won the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Clay Court Championship in 2013 and by beating Opelka would have become the oldest champion at the tournament in the Open Era. That record remains with Andre Agassi, who was victorious aged 32 in 2003.

Tomislav Brkic and Nikola Cacic ruined Stan Wawrinka’s return to Tour Sunday as they defeated the Swiss star and Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4 to reach the second round at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The Serbian-Bosnian pair has advanced to semi-finals in Adelaide and Buenos Aires this season and found their best level against Auger-Aliassime and Wawrinka, saving the one break point they faced to advance after 62 minutes.

They will next play Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer after the eighth seeds defeated Alex de Minaur and Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3 in 71 minutes. Arevalo and Rojer will be aiming to win their third tour-level trophy of the year this week, having captured titles in Dallas and Delray Beach as a team.

Fifth seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus soared to their third tour-level crown together in Dubai in February and started their Monte Carlo campaign by edging past Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 4-6, 7-5, 10-5.

Puetz and Venus rallied from 3-5 in the second set as they raised their level in the key moments to advance after one hour and 36 minutes.

The final doubles match of the day saw Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev down singles stars Hubert Hurkacz and Jannik Sinner 6-4, 6-3.

World No. 3 Zverev will be attempting to win both the singles and doubles titles in Monte Carlo this week, with the German starting his singles bid against Jaume Munar or Federico Delbonis.

An action-packed Monday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters will see Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga take to court in what could be his final match at the clay-court event, Stan Wawrinka make his long-awaited return to Tour and #NextGenATP Jannik Sinner begin his campaign.

View Schedule

J. Tsonga (FRA) vs M. Cilic (CRO)

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has lit up the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters throughout his career, producing dynamic performances to reach the semi-finals in 2013 and 2016. The former World No. 5 will be competing at the Masters 1000 tournament for the final time this week, though, after he recently announced he would retire after Roland Garros.

The wild card, who defeated Roger Federer en route to the last four in 2016, holds a long-standing rivalry against Marin Cilic, with the Croatian leading their ATP Head2Head series 6-2. However, they have not played since 2018, when Cilic triumphed in the Davis Cup.

Tsonga will be aiming to snap a three-match losing streak when he takes to court against Cilic and is looking forward to returning to a tournament he holds special memories at.

“I remember matches and good victories, especially the one against Roger [Federer],” Tsonga said in his pre-tournament press conference. “I have had extraordinary moments here, and everybody knows that. The view is beautiful, the weather is nice. It’s a very special moment, and it’s the beginning of the clay-court season, so it’s very good to spend time here.”

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S. Wawrinka (SUI) vs A. Bublik (KAZ)

Former World No. 3 Wawrinka will compete at a tour-level event for the first time in 13 months when he faces Alexander Bublik in the first round on Court Rainier III.

The 37-year-old, who had two left-foot surgeries in 2021, has tasted success on the clay in Monte Carlo before, triumphing at the tournament in 2014 when he defeated Federer in the final.

When discussing the past year in his pre-tournament press conference, Wawrinka said: “It was very long and difficult, more than a year. I thought I would be only a few weeks out. It lasted a whole year with many moments of doubt. It was extremely long and tough.

“I really needed to have the willpower to come back, to have the strength to go through rehab and everything, and I’m very happy to be here now.”

Wawrinka will be making his 12th appearance at the tournament, having accepted a wild card. It will be the first meeting between the 16-time tour-level titlist and Bublik, who lifted his first ATP Tour title in Montpellier in February.

B. Coric (CRO) vs [9] J. Sinner (ITA)

Since making his Monte-Carlo debut last season, #NextGenATP Italian Jannik Sinner has lifted three-tour level titles, earned standout wins against Top 10 stars Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud and climbed to a career-high No. 9 in the ATP Rankings.

The 20-year-old arrives at the third ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season off the back of a run to the quarter-finals in Miami, where he defeated Emil Ruusuvuori, Pablo Carreno Busta and Nick Kyrgios.

Meanwhile, Coric will be competing at just his third event of the season, after he returned from injury in Indian Wells in March. The Croatian is making his sixth appearance at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, with his best result coming in 2019 when he advanced to the last eight. Monday’s first-round clash will be the pair’s first meeting.

Best Of The Rest

Italian Fabio Fognini earned the biggest win of his career in Monte Carlo when he defeated Dusan Lajovic in the 2019 final to clinch his first Masters 1000 title.

The 34-year-old will play Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech in the first match on Court Rainier III in what will be the first meeting between the pair. Fognini has flourished on clay throughout his career, with the best result of his season so far coming on the surface in Rio de Janeiro in February when he advanced to the semi-finals.

Seeded duo Diego Schwartzman and Pablo Carreno Busta will start their campaigns on Court des Princes against Karen Khachanov and Argentine qualifier Sebastian Baez, respectively. Schwartzman has lifted three tour-level trophies on clay and advanced to the quarter-finals in Monte Carlo in 2017. Meanwhile, Carreno Busta will be attempting to reach the last eight at the event for the first time this week, having fallen in the third round three times.

Other singles matches will see 11th seed Hubert Hurkacz play Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien, while American Sebastian Korda takes on Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.

In the doubles, sixth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah face Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen and seventh seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski take on Rohan Bopanna and Jamie Murray.

SCHEDULE – MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2022

COURT RAINIER III start 11:00 am
F. Fognini (ITA) vs A. Rinderknech (FRA)
[WC] S. Wawrinka (SUI) vs A. Bublik (KAZ)
[PR] B. Coric (CRO) vs [9] J. Sinner (ITA)
[WC] J. Tsonga (FRA) vs M. Cilic (CRO)

COURT DES PRINCES start 11:00 am
S. Korda (USA) vs B. van de Zandschulp (NED)

Not Before 12:30 pm
K. Khachanov vs [12] D. Schwartzman (ARG)
[13] P. Carreno Busta (ESP) vs [Q] S. Baez (ARG)
[11] H. Hurkacz (POL) vs [Q] H. Dellien (BOL)

COURT 2 start 11:00 am
A. Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) vs T. Griekspoor (NED)
A. de Minaur (AUS) vs [Q] B. Zapata Miralles (ESP)
[WC] P. Tsitsipas (GRE) / S. Tsitsipas (GRE) vs A. Golubev (KAZ) / L. Sonego (ITA)

COURT 9 start 11:00 am
[6] J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL) vs S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL)
[Q] J. Munar (ESP) vs F. Delbonis (ARG)
[PR] A. Krajicek (USA) / E. Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs A. Karatsev / J. Peers (AUS)

COURT 11 start 12:00 noon
R. Bopanna (IND) / J. Murray (GBR) vs [7] W. Koolhof (NED) / N. Skupski (GBR)
After Suitable Rest – T. Fritz (USA) / S. Korda (USA) vs K. Krawietz (GER) / A. Mies (GER)

Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina moved past American Marcos Giron 7-5, 6-3 Sunday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters to set up a second-round meeting with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

The World No. 45 survived a second-set dip on Court Rainier III as he rolled off six-straight games from 0-3 to triumph after one hour and 39 minutes and improve to 1-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against Giron.

Davidovich Fokina has fond memories in Monte-Carlo, having advanced to the quarter-finals last season. The 22-year-old defeated Alex de Minaur, Matteo Berrettini and Lucas Pouille before falling to eventual champion Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Davidovich Fokina plays Djokovic next and will be aiming to earn his first win over the Serbian, with the top seed leading their ATP Head2Head series 2-0.

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Grigor Dimitrov followed Davidovich Fokina on to court and also advanced after Nikoloz Basilashvili was forced to retire in the second set when the Bulgarian was leading 6-3, 2-0 after 51 minutes.

The former World No. 3 reached the semi-finals at the clay-court event in 2018 and is making his ninth appearance in Monte-Carlo.

Dimitrov has captured wins against 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka former World No. 7 Fernando Verdasco and World No. 6 Matteo Berrettini at the tournament over the years and arrives this week in confident mood, having advanced to the quarter-finals in Indian Wells last month.

Dimitrov will face the winner of the all-Serbian battle between Dusan Lajovic and Filip Krajinovic in the second round.

Top seed Novak Djokovic feels that he is fully motivated and ready to test himself against the world’s best players once again as he prepares to play at his second tour-level event of the season at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters this week.

“I still feel motivated to be on the Tour and compete with young guys and try to challenge the best players in the world for the biggest titles,” Djokovic said in his pre-tournament press conference.

“I’m very pleased to be here and Monaco has been home for over ten years. I have been eagerly waiting for the moment when I will be out competing again, so this is the best place where I could possibly start.”

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The Serbian will begin his clay-court campaign against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and is hoping he can take confidence from his strong results on the surface in 2021, when he clinched titles at Roland Garros and the Belgrade Open and advanced to the final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

“Clay court is the surface on which I grew up in Serbia and played many years only on that surface actually. Historically it hasn’t been my most successful surface, but I have had some big success on clay. [The] Roland Garros win last year is still fresh in my memory, so I try to use that as an inspiration to kick-start the clay-court season [in the] best possible way.

“I understand that I probably won’t be at my best at the beginning of this week. I am still testing my engine, so to say, and building my game, so it will take obviously some time, some matches to really get in the groove and find the competitive play that I really need.”

Djokovic arrives at the third ATP Masters 1000 event of the season as the World No. 1, having reclaimed top spot on 21 March, after temporarily losing it to Daniil Medvedev for three weeks from 28 February.

The 34-year-old, who reached the quarter-finals in Dubai in February, knows that a deep run in Monte Carlo will maintain his position at the top of the sport.

“Being World No. 1 is the highest achievement that you can have in our sport, so I’ll try to maintain that position as much as possible,” Djokovic said.

Revenge tasted sweet for David Goffin on Sunday.

In the first week of the season, Alex Molcan defeated the Belgian in straight sets. But in their second clash, Goffin rallied from a set and a break down to triumph 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and lift the Grand Prix Hassan II title.

“I’m very happy, proud of my week. It was not easy, a lot of tough matches,” Goffin said. “But at the end, I have my sixth title, here in Marrakech. It gives me a lot of happiness and confidence for the season on the clay.”

Molcan was in control of the championship match, serving at 6-3, 2-1, 40/15 in his second ATP Tour final. But the Slovakian lefty was unable to hold that service game, and that was the only opening the former World No. 7 needed. Goffin emerged victorious in Marrakech after one hour and 58 minutes to claim his sixth tour-level trophy.

“It was the case twice before that match that I lost the first set and I always stayed calm the whole week to turn it around. It was the case again today, because he was playing well. He was better than me in the first set, and then I managed to play better and better, serving better, being more aggressive in the middle of the second,” Goffin said. “I was the better player [after that]. I was playing even better in the third set, so I’m really happy the way I finished with another break [and] a good match point. I didn’t want to serve for the match, I preferred to finish with a break.”

The 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up ended his 2021 season early due to a left knee injury and struggled to start this year, earning a 6-9 record before arriving in Morocco. But the 31-year-old battled through three three-setters en route to his first tour-level crown since Montpellier last February.

For a while, it seemed Goffin faced a steep climb against Molcan. The Belgian, who at his best is very consistent from the baseline and uses his movement to put pressure on opponents, was misfiring. Molcan took full advantage and moved to within four service holds of earning his maiden triumph at this level.

But the Slovakian missed a forehand drop shot to relinquish his break advantage in the second set and then missed another backhand drop shot in his next service game to allow his veteran opponent to go up a break.

Goffin found his game from there and broke early in the decider as Molcan’s backhand began to falter. The Marrakech crowd got behind the Belgian with chants of “David! David!”

Goffin stayed calm in the tense moments, saving break point at 4-3 in the final set when Molcan missed a backhand into the net. He avoided facing another break point by hitting a forehand winner on the line, and held on from there for the title.

What fans might not know is that Goffin warmed up for the match with former World No. 22 Hicham Arazi, a lefty who is the Grand Prix Hassan II Tournament Director.

“This morning it was really nice,” Goffin said. “We were chatting a little bit with each other and we were talking about when he came in Davis Cup when he was playing for Morocco against Belgium… he was an amazing, talented player when I was young, so it was nice.”

Molcan made an impressive run in Marrakech, where he earned three-set victories against top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and sixth seed Botic van de Zandchulp before eliminating eighth seed Laslo Djere in straight set in the semi-finals. He was quick to thank the crowd during the trophy ceremony for supporting him throughout the week.

“I’m really grateful for it. You helped me to win many matches this week, so thanks again,” Molcan said. “Hopefully I will come here next year and you will cheer for me as well.”

He added: “It was an amazing week for me. I won a lot of matches and enjoyed it very much. I want to thank my coach Karol Beck. We’ve been working together for four months now and he has been very helpful.”