Beating Rafael Nadal on clay is ample grounds for bragging rights and on Thursday, the two most recent men to have done so – Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem – will square off in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. The reward for the winner of arguably the toughest of the third-round match-ups is a potential meeting with the 10-time champion and top-seeded Spaniard in the quarter-finals, should he find a way past Russian Karen Khachanov.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches from the 2018 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters & vote for who you think will win! 
Thiem v Djokovic | Cilic v Raonic | Nadal v Khachanov

It was Djokovic who ended Nadal’s hot streak in the 2013 final after Nadal had won eight straight Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters titles. The Spaniard, has claimed 31 of his past 33 matches on clay, with those two losses coming to Djokovic in the Rome 2016 quarter-finals and to Thiem in the Rome 2017 quarter-finals.

“The matches are only going to get tougher. I’m going to just think about Dominic,” Djokovic said. “Last year at Roland Garros he beat me in straight sets. He’s definitely top-three player in the world on clay. He’s one of the best players in general. 

“He’s coming off an injury himself… But he came back yesterday, I think match point down, and had a tough one himself. As I said, he’s a clay-court specialist. He’s someone that has a very powerful game and can play from inside of the court, back of the court, spin the ball, flatten it, hit a 220km/h serve, have an equally effective kick serve. He’s got it all, the entire game for clay. I’ve got to think only about that. It’s not the first time I have to face in earlier rounds some top players. I look forward to it.”

Djokovic leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Thiem 5-1 however, the Austrian easily prevailed in their most recent clash, in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last season. Fifth-seeded Thiem had not played since fracturing his ankle at Indian Wells, forcing him to skip the Miami Open presented by Itau before his Monte-Carlo return.

In his return to his favourite surface, Thiem saved a match point to deny Russian Andrey Rublev 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday. Ninth seed Djokovic, too, was forced to work hard, needing 10 match points to eke out a 7-6(2), 7-5 victory over in-form Croatian Borna Coric, after an earlier 6-0, 6-1 dismissal of countryman Dusan Lajovic.

Top seed Nadal will carry a 2-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record into his third-round encounter with Khachanov in the match following Djokovic vs. Thiem on Court Rainier III on Thursday. In his first match since a quarter-final exit at the Australian Open, Nadal opened with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Aljaz Bedene on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Khachanov did not drop a set in his first two matches over Thanasi Kokkinakis and Gilles Simon. 

Third seed Alexander Zverev will continue his campaign for a second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court title when he meets countryman Jen-Lennard Struff. Zverev, who owns a 2-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record over the 29-year-old, struggled to a three-set result over Gilles Muller first up, while Struff defeated Yuichi Sugita and 13th seed Fabio Fognini.

In fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov’s only previous clash with German Kohlschreiber, the Bulgarian prevailed on the clay in Madrid in the first round last season. Both are bidding to reach their third Monte-Carlo quarter-final, with Kohlschreiber coming off an impressive straight-sets win over No. 15 seed and last year’s runner-up Albert Ramos Vinolas.

There is a certain homely feel to a site where you have tasted considerable success there for well over a decade. Tucked away on the fringes of the Mediterranean, the Monte-Carlo Country Club is one such place for Rafael Nadal. 

Last year, the Spaniard became the first man in the Open Era to win 10 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters crowns when he easily accounted for countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the final. He won eight straight finals on Court Rainier III from 2005-12 before Novak Djokovic broke his extraordinary winning streak in the 2013 final. 

“Of course, there are places that you have special feelings in terms of you feel comfortable on court, you played a lot of times on this court, you know you had a lot of success. All these things help your self-confidence,” Nadal said after his opening victory over Aljaz Bedene on Wednesday. 

“When you play in a place, it’s like you play in a golf club that you know very well. It is easier than when you play in a new golf club.

“I know a tennis court is always a tennis court, but at some point you know the court very well, you feel comfortable with it, you have been in that place lot of times competing. When you are inside the court, positive memories come to your mind, not negative memories. That’s always going to help.”

Victory in 2017 was a precursor to two further clay-court benchmarks – a 10th Barcelona title and 10th Roland Garros triumph. As it stands, the 31-year-old now boasts a record 53 clay-court trophies.

Nadal must retain his Monte-Carlo title, which would represent his 31st Masters 1000 crown, to remain at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. Roger Federer will return to the top spot on 23 April otherwise. 

Russian Karen Khachanov is Nadal’s third-round opponent. The Spaniard will attempt to win his fourth straight match on clay for 2018 after two Davis Cup wins against Germany prior to his defeat of Bedene. His confidence is again building.

“Of course, when you play matches, you feel more comfortable, you feel more safe with your body, you feel stronger, too, physically,” Nadal said. “You feel less tired because you get used to the high intensity… When you play more in a row, [these] feelings come easier.”

After beating Croatia’s Borna Coric 7-6(2), 7-5 at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Wednesday, Novak Djokovic revealed he made adjustments to his racquet earlier this year.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion recently made the change under former coaches Andre Agassi and Radek Stepanek as he began his return to the Tour, with his mind set on recapturing the form that saw him finish as year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings on four occasions (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015).

“[I] changed the racquet earlier this year,” said Djokovic. “I made some small minor changes that actually in our world are quite significant.

“(Andre) Agassi and Radek (Stepanek) who worked with me at the time felt it was a good call for the big picture and for the long run. I feel more comfortable with the racquet as I go along.”

The Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters ninth seed, who said the recent tweaks have given him more power and angle on his serve, emphasised the need for patience as he continues to develop his game with the changes. Djokovic compared his current situation to Roger Federer’s experiences more than four years ago, when the Swiss star changed his racquet model in a bid to improve performance.

“Obviously it takes a little bit of time,” said Djokovic. “I think Roger (Federer) some years ago also had that racquet change, and it took him a little bit [of time], some months, to get comfortable with it.”

Djokovic, two-time Monte-Carlo champion, was keen to look long-term when making the change. “If you think about certain parts of your game you maybe want to improve, maybe the technology, the racquet can help you with that. Why not? It was a big call,” expressed Djokovic.

The 30-year-old showed clear belief in his abilities when asked about his chances of returning to the pinnacle of the game, emphasising the importance of health in realising his ambitions.

“I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of [the press] and competing in this tournament if I didn’t believe that I can [win Grand Slam events and return to World No. 1],” said Djokovic. “Being in that position already and having achieved so much just gives me enough reason to believe I can make it again.

“I just hope that I’ll be healthy. That’s the most important thing. I know when I’m healthy, when I’m not dealing with any significant injury that can disturb me on the way to compete and train, then I can really reach that desired level.”

Marin Cilic denied Fernando Verdasco the 500th match win of his career on Wednesday as he booked his spot in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters third round.

The second-seeded Croatian worked hard for a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over 2010 runner-up Verdasco in the final match of the day on Court Rainier III, the main show court. He will now compete against No. 14 Milos Raonic of Canada on Thursday. Cilic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1.

Cilic broke Verdasco’s serve for a 3-1 lead, then recovered from 0/40 in the seventh game of the 35-minute first set. Verdasco, who saved three match points against Pablo Cuevas on Tuesday, gained a 2-0 lead in the second set, but Cilic quickly restored parity.

It wasn’t until Cilic served at 3-4, that Verdasco was rewarded for his hard yards when a mis-timed drop shot landed in the net at 30/40 and handed the Spaniard an opportunity to serve for the set. However, Cilic regrouped and played aggressively to break to 30 for 5-5. He served out the tie-break to move within a match of returning to the quarter-finals (2015, 2017).

The World No. 3 is now 8-5 lifetime against Verdasco in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series (1-1 on clay, also 2015 Mutua Madrid Open).

Earlier on day four, Raonic struck 16 aces past Marco Cecchinato in his third successive victory over the Italian on clay courts (also 2016 Monte-Carlo and Internazionali BNL d’Italia).

Raonic, who has 298 career victories and is now one win away from reaching the quarter-finals for the fourth successive year, won 7-6(5), 6-2 in 86 minutes.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal received a thunderous welcome to Court Rainier III on Wednesday and he didn’t disappoint the capacity crowd on his return to the ATP World Tour at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The Spanish superstar, a record 10-time champion, was fluent and impressive in his 6-1, 6-3 second-round victory over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia in 68 minutes.

Nadal improved to a 64-4 record at the historic ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event to set up a meeting against Russian Karen Khachanov, who was rock solid from the baseline in his 6-2, 6-2 win over French wild card Gilles Simon.

Nadal must retain the Monte-Carlo title, which would represent his 31st Masters 1000 crown, to remain at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. Otherwise his Swiss rival, Roger Federer, will return to the top spot on 23 April. The 31-year-old Nadal is in his 170th week at No. 1, tying John McEnroe for the sixth-most weeks in rankings history (since August 1973).

Nadal raced out to a 3-0 lead against Bedene in their first match since the 2016 second round and broke a second time in the sixth game with great variety of spin and power. When Bedene saved a break point in the first game of the second set, Nadal had to bide his time and later broke serve twice more — for a 4-3 advantage and then in the final game.

Bedene drops to a 9-3 mark on red dirt this season, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires (l. to Thiem) in February. He is now 0-17 lifetime against Top 10 stars.

Already with two clay-court match wins this year in a Davis Cup tie for Spain, today marked Nadal’s first completed match at an ATP World Tour tournament since November 2017. In January, he sustained a hip injury during his Australian Open quarter-final against Marin Cilic.

Did You Know?
Rafael Nadal’s only previous meeting against Aljaz Bedene was also in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters second round. In 2016, Nadal won 6-3, 6-3.