The ATP World Tour continues its clay swing at the first clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of 2018, the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, a 10-time champion in Monaco, leads the field as he attempts to become the first player during the Open Era to claim victory at a tournament 11 times. Four of the Top 5 players in the ATP Rankings will be in action, as will two-time titlist Novak Djokovic.

View Draw

1) Nadal On Top: World No. 1 and 10-time Monte-Carlo champion Rafael Nadal is playing his first tournament since the Australian Open in January. The Spaniard has been sidelined with a hip injury before returning last weekend to help Spain to a 3-2 Davis Cup win over Germany. This is the 170th week he’s ranked No. 1, tying John McEnroe for sixth-most in the history of the ATP Rankings. The Spaniard must defend his Monte-Carlo crown to remain No. 1 or Roger Federer will take over on 23 April.

2) Rafa A Perfect 10: Last year, Nadal became the first player in the Open Era to win a tournament 10 times. He first accomplished the feat in Monte-Carlo, then in Barcelona and Roland Garros. Nadal, who is playing in Monte-Carlo for the 15th time, and fourth occasion as World No. 1, has a 63-4 record at the event.

3) First-Time Winner Streak: The last three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments have been won by first-time champions: Jack Sock (2017 Paris), Juan Martin del Potro (Indian Wells) and John Isner (Miami). The last time this occurred was in 2003 when Felix Mantilla triumphed in Rome, Guillermo Coria in Hamburg and Andy Roddick in Montreal.

4) Novak Eyes Turnaround: No. 9 seed Novak Djokovic is playing in Monte-Carlo for the 12th time in 13 years (except 2011). The Serbian has a 30-9 record at the tournament, capturing titles in 2013 and 2015, while reaching finals in 2009 and 2012. Djokovic is back working with coach Marian Vajda.

5) Thiem Returns: No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem returns to action after retiring due to an ankle injury in the third round at Indian Wells against Pablo Cuevas on 12 March. Seven of Thiem’s nine career ATP World Tour titles have come on clay, including Buenos Aires in February. He is 3-4 in Monte-Carlo, reaching the third round in 2016 and 2017.

6) 500 Wins Club: Fernando Verdsaco is two wins away from becoming the sixth Spaniard in the Open Era to earn 500 career tour-level victories. Richard Gasquet is three triumphs away from becoming the first Frenchman in the Open Era to reach the milestone. Seven active players have 500 or more wins.

7) British Breakthrough: British No. 1 Kyle Edmund is set to compete in his maiden ATP World Tour final in Marrakech on Sunday (vs. Andujar). Edmund will break into the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings if he captures his first trophy.

8) Wild Cards: The wild cards in Monte-Carlo are from four different countries: #NextGenATP star Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN), Lucas Catarina (MON), Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) and Gilles Simon (FRA).

9) Strong Doubles Field: Seven of the Top 10 in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings are in the draw, led by the Top 4 of Oliver Marach/Mate Pavic, Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah and Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares.

10) Doubles Champions: Last year’s champions Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas are playing with different partners (Roger-Vasselin and Granollers, respectively). The Bryans are five-time winners (2007, 2011-12, 2014-15), while Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut (2016) are the other former champions in the draw.

Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya won their second match of the day to capture the Grand Prix Hassan II title in Marrakech, defeating Frenchmen Benoit Paire and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-5, 3-6, 10/7 on Saturday.

Mektic and Peya, who beat Divij Sharan and Jan-Lennard Struff earlier in the day in the semi-finals, won 72 per cent of points behind their first serves in the championship match to win their first title as a team in 86 minutes. It is Mektic’s third tour-level triumph, and the 16th time Peya has lifted a trophy. The Croatian-Austrian duo was appearing in its third final of 2018, after runner-up finishes in Rio de Janeiro and Sofia.

“It was our third final together. We didn’t want to lose again,” explained Peya. “It was a very tough match and we are extremely happy.”

Watch Live On TennisTV

Watch Full Match Replays

The top seeds were forced to save three consecutive set points at 4-5 (15-40) in the first set, before reeling off three consecutive games to establish a lead. Paire and Roger-Vasselin forced a Match Tie-break after a strong reply in the second set, serving the set out to love after breaking in the eighth game. But it was Mektic and Peya who established control of the decider to enter the winners’ circle, securing the title on their second championship point.

“It was a crazy match,” admitted Mektic. “Benoit (Paire) was on fire in the second set. It was a tough week for us as I was sick in the beginning.”

Mektic and Peya will receive 250 ATP Doubles Ranking points and share €27,220 in prize money for clinching the crown. Paire and Roger-Vasselin gain 150 ATP Doubles Rankings points and will split €14,310.

Did You Know?
Only one team has ever successfully defended the doubles title in Morocco since its inaugural edition in 1990. Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau won back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.

It will not take long for breathtaking tennis to be played at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, with plenty of jaw-dropping first-round matchups. The ATP World Tour’s best are set to get things underway on Sunday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, the first clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the season.

Tomas Berdych v Kei Nishikori
Any time two players who have climbed to No. 4 in the ATP Rankings meet at a tournament, it’s must-see action. And when they clash in the first round of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, you need to grab extra popcorn. Nishikori leads the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-1, but interestingly enough, the bigger-hitting Berdych earned his lone victory on clay six years ago, also in Monte-Carlo. He is also the 2015 runner-up at the event.

The key will be how well the Japanese superstar will be able to defend on the dirt against an onslaught of lasered groundstrokes from the baseline coming from Berdych. Nishikori, who is still working his way back to form after missing five months due to a wrist injury, will have to neutralise the Czech’s offence on his home courts — Berdych resides in Monte-Carlo and trains at the Monte-Carlo Country Club — and force him to take more risks from difficult positions. Their last match came at the 2015 Nitto ATP Finals.

View Draw

Mischa Zverev v Felix Auger-Aliassime
Experience against youth. Serve-and-volleyer against baseliner. Who wouldn’t want to watch that? Mischa Zverev, a savvy veteran, takes on #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who last year became the fourth-youngest player to crack the Top 200 of the ATP Rankings. And just a month ago at Indian Wells, the 17-year-old became the youngest player to win an ATP World Tour Match since Denis Shapovalov at the 2016 Rogers Cup.

But perhaps what is most intriguing in this matchup is the clash of styles. The left-handed Zverev almost exclusively uses the serve and volley, venturing to the net with great variety on the serve and pure, simple technique on his volleys. Will Auger-Aliassime be able to move well enough on the slippery clay to position himself for key passing shots? Perhaps more importantly, on his own serve, the World No. 176 will need to stay on top of the baseline on his own serve, and not allow the German to venture forward even more if he is to earn a second-round meeting against No. 7 seed Lucas Pouille.

Karen Khachanov v Thanasi Kokkinakis
If you like big hitting from the baseline, you will love this first-round encounter in Monaco. Karen Khachanov, the 21-year-old, has already established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the ATP World Tour. The Russian won his second tour-level title this February at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille, and owns five Top 20 victories over the past year. But Thanasi Kokkinakis is fresh off the best win of his career at the Miami Open presented by Itau, ousting then-World No. 1 Roger Federer before falling in a third-set tie-break against veteran Fernando Verdasco in the third round.

It will be of the utmost importance for each player to control the baseline. If either competitor gives up a short ball, they will immediately be put on the defensive by the other’s powerful groundstrokes. According to Infosys ATP Scores & Stats, Khachanov is eighth on the ATP World Tour in 2018 in service games won, holding 86.72 per cent of the time, and coming in at No. 10 in first-serve points won (76.98 per cent). If he can hold easily against Kokkinakis, it might put pressure on the Australian in his service games on the red clay.

Fernando Verdasco v Pablo Cuevas
When you pit two players who have won well over 100 matches on a surface against one another in the first round of a tournament, it will certainly be one to watch. When you throw in that the pair have split four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, all on clay, the prospect of a great battle becomes even greater. Fernando Verdasco (213 clay wins) looks to move within one triumph of No. 500 in his career against Uruguayan star Pablo Cuevas (128 clay wins).

It will be fun to watch rallies between Verdasco’s dangerous left-handed forehand and Cuevas’ immaculate one-handed backhand, and it will be interesting to see who is brave enough to break that pattern and play aggressively down the line first. All signs point towards a grueling baseline duel between the 2010 finalist, Verdasco, and last year’s doubles champion (w/ Bopanna), Cuevas, who also beat Stan Wawrinka en route to the quarter-finals.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas v Jared Donaldson
Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas returns to the scene of his best career result in Monte-Carlo. A year ago, the left-hander advanced to his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final (l. to Nadal), which propelled him into the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings for the first time. But across the net in the first round for the No. 15 seed will be an eager young American who is plenty familiar with the court surface.

Jared Donaldson, who qualified for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals and recently advanced to the semi-finals at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, actually trained in Argentina for two-and-a-half years as a teenager. And while he lost against Ramos-Vinolas at this year’s Australian Open in straight sets, he is a consistent performer who will play a steady brand of tennis and look to take advantage of any sitters or short balls. If Ramos-Vinolas is not able to get his heavy-topspin forehand bouncing high on the clay to move Donaldson around and control the action, this can be a fun one.

A number of ATP World Tour stars, led by Novak Djokovic, turned out in force to support the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation on Saturday, in a charity exhibition with participants of James Corden’s ‘A League of Their Own’ show on Courier Rainier III ahead of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

Novak Djokovic, the 2013 and 2015 champion at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, was the chair umpire as Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Lucas Pouille, Alexander Zverev and his older brother, Mischa Zverev, all took to the court against the celebrities from the UK television show.

Former Liverpool and England footballer Jamie Redknapp and comedian Josh Widdicombe teamed up to win a tie-break 7/5 against Geri Halliwell, a former member of the pop group, Spice Girls, and English Test cricket captain Andrew Flintoff. The four were helped by Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem.

The pros then took control and played a number of tie-breaks to entertain the crowd, with Halliwell as the chair umpire.

After the 45-minute exhibition, Djokovic hit with his son, Stefan, prior to signing autographs.

Starting them young, eh @DjokerNole? ?#RolexMCMasters pic.twitter.com/r1oyW7oGxX

— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) 14 avril 2018

ATP World Tour stars hoping to reach the Grand Prix Hassan II final started their double shift on Saturday in Marrekech after rain washed out Friday’s play.

Two-time champion Pablo Andujar needed three sets to advance to the semi-finals, ending the surprise run of Russian qualifier Alexey Vatutin 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 on Saturday.

The champion in 2011 (d. Starace) and 2012 (d. Ramos-Vinolas), reached his first ATP World Tour semi-final since Barcelona in 2015 (l. to Nishikori) after two hours and 47 minutes to improve his tournament record to 13-2. Vatutin was bidding to reach his first tour-level semi-final after securing his first two wins on tour to reach the quarter-finals.

Andujar will face Portugal’s Joao Sousa later in the day, after the 29-year-old overcame Nikoloz Gabashvili 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Sousa defeated Top 10 stars Alexander Zverev and David Goffin last month in Indian Wells and Miami respectively.

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

France’s Richard Gasquet booked his place in the final four, needing exactly two hours to extend his perfect FedEx ATP Head2Head record to 8-0 against countryman Gilles Simon 6-2, 7-6(4). The fourth seed edged a second-set tie-break to beat the 2008 champion, in a match featuring 12 breaks of serve, and book a semi-final meeting with Kyle Edmund. Gasquet is aiming to reach his second championship match of the season (Montpellier).

Edmund won his 10th match of the 2018 ATP World Tour season by overcoming, Malek Jaziri, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finalist, 6-2, 6-1 in 51 minutes on Court Central.

The 23-year-old, dropped only three points behind his first serve and converted all four of his break point chances en route to the semi-finals, and now stands just one win away from his first ATP World Tour final. Edmund and Gasquet are tied at 1-1 in their FedExATP Head2Head series.

Did You Know?
Pablo Andujar is one of just two men to win multiple titles at the Grand Prix Hassan II. Andujar won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, with Guillermo Perez-Roldan the only other two-time winner (1992- ’93).

Novak Djokovic has reunited with his long-time former coach Marian Vajda for the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, which begins on Sunday. Vajda has been helping the former World No. 1 in his preparations for the European clay-court swing.

Djokovic and Vajda trained at the Pepe Imaz Academy in Marbella, Spain, last week and on Thursday morning Djokovic hit with fellow Monte-Carlo resident Grigor Dimitrov on Court Rainier III. On Saturday, the Serbian practiced for two hours with David Goffin during a session that was watched courtside by Vajda and former World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic.

Vajda coached Djokovic between June 2006 and May 2017.

The 30-year-old Djokovic, who captured the Monte-Carlo title in 2013 and 2015, is looking to rebuild his confidence this week. He has compiled a 3-3 record this year following a right elbow injury.

This week, Djokovic will compete in the same half of the Monte-Carlo draw by 10-time champion Rafael Nadal.

Max Mirnyi had faced Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan plenty before taking the court Friday evening at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. In fact, the Belarusian had played the brothers 54 times (31-23), and lost nine of their past 10 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. 

But despite the 39-year-olds carrying a seven-match winning streak into the semi-final, Mirnyi and partner Philipp Oswald were too good on the night, ousting the recent Miami Open presented by Itaú champions 6-4, 2-6, 10/6.  

The Belarusian-Austrian duo dropped two of their first three service points in the Super Tie-break, but rallied from 4/3 down to win seven of the match’s final nine points, advancing to the final. This year’s New York Open champions will face Andre Begemann and Antonio Sancic for the title. The German-Croatian pair battled past wild cards Dustin Brown and Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 3-6, 10/7 to reach their first ATP World Tour championship match as a team. 

Begemann and Sancic had never played together prior to arriving at the River Oaks Country Club, and they only played against each other once on the ATP World Tour. Begemann owns four tour-level titles, while Sancic seeks his maiden trophy. 

Did You Know?
Mirnyi earned his 1,000th victory in January before reaching his 100th final (both milestones are singles and doubles combined) in February at the New York Open. He played with Oswald on both occasions. 

John Isner coolly steps to the baseline like he has thousands of times before. He bounces the ball between the legs of his 6’10” frame, and then again off the court three times with his racquet, and four times with his hand. Just as he lifts his left arm to toss the ball into the air, slightly in front of him, his racquet-wielding right arm begins its own upward motion simultaneously. The 32-year-old eventually launches toward the sky and at the last moment, Isner turns his wrist so the stringbed meets the ball, producing a devastating result.

Isner sends the ball flying as if he is wielding Thor’s hammer. The result is a blazing 138 mile-per-hour ace down the ‘T’ on a mild Houston night.

In fact, that ace on Friday in the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship quarter-finals to start the fourth game of the deciding set (1-2) against defending champion Steve Johnson gave Isner 10,000 for his career. The American is one of just four players in history to enter the elite club, joining Ivo Karlovic (12,622), Roger Federer (10,463) and Goran Ivanisevic (10,131). After the history-making ace, there was a slight delay as the ball was passed to chair umpire Simon Cannavan for safekeeping.

So, how did Isner get to that milestone?

According to the World No. 9, he has made very few if any changes to his serve over the years. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, right?

“That’s something that fortunately for me I picked up at a very early age. I’m sure if I watched footage of myself in college, my serve’s a little bit different,” Isner told ATPWorldTour.com. “But for the most part, maybe I used to move my front foot a little bit. I used to start back, take a step forward. My front foot stays still now. But the overall motion hasn’t changed a bit. I’ve seen footage of me as a freshman in high school, it’s the same serve.”

It has certainly done its job over the years. Isner has led the ATP World Tour in aces six times (2010-13, 2016-17) according to Infosys ATP Scores & Stats, striking over 1,000 aces in a season on five occasions (2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017). That all led him to his 19th ace of the day against Johnson to reach the extraordinary milestone.

“I’m joining a pretty small club. It’s very cool,” Isner said. “It shows how fortunate I’ve been to be able to stay on the court for this long.”

Only one player, Karlovic, has broken the 11,000-ace mark. The Croatian has hit 12,622 aces in his career. Only the 39-year-old has hit more aces per tour-level match than Isner.

“He has a little bit different serve than me, he stays back more after it so after, he’s able to hit his forehands,” Karlovic told ATPWorldTour.com. “But it’s a pretty similar bounce, pretty similar angles. It’s also a really good serve.”

The big question is, how has Isner managed to find his best serving under the greatest of pressure? When the American clinched his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title on 1 April at the Miami Open presented by Itaú to become the oldest first-time champion at that level, he did so with an ace.

“When I feel loose, when I’m not thinking and you have a lot of adrenaline,” Isner said. “Adrenaline does everything for you… I can go through a match and not hit a serve over let’s say 132 and then I’m serving for the match and next thing I know I’m in the 140s. That’s just what it does.”

It has worked for Isner for years, and it doesn’t appear he is slowing down. The American is third on the ATP World Tour in aces so far this season.

“If I can reach 10,000,” Isner said. “Hopefully I can get to 11,000.”

All-Time ATP World Tour Aces Leaders

As part of Infosys ATP Match Stats, ATP began recording ace tallies in 1991. The tally comprises aces hit in singles main draw matches from ATP World Tour tournaments, Grand Slams and the Olympics (from 2008 on). Aces in Davis Cup competition are not included.