Federer, Wawrinka upset in Monte Carlo
Print Edition
ON a bad day for Switzerland, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka both exited the Monte Carlo Masters in the third round yesterday.
Federer, who played his first tournament in nearly four weeks, made too many mistakes in a 6-4, 7-6 (5) loss to Gael Monfils after Wawrinka, the defending champion, was routed 6-1, 6-2 by Grigor Dimitrov.
“It’s the very beginning of the clay-court season. It’s going to take me some time to feel 100 percent comfortable,” the second-ranked Federer said.
“Not many guys are perfect this week.”
It was Monfils’s second consecutive win on clay over the 17-time grand slam champion after he beat him in straight sets during last year’s Davis Cup final, and Federer’s earliest loss in Monte Carlo since 2009.
Federer has changed his schedule this season to allow more time for training and was not expecting to peak early on the dust. He will now return to Switzerland to do some more practice before tournaments in Istanbul and Madrid.
Federer’s quest for a second French Open begins on May 24 and he believes he has enough time to make the proper adjustments. At 33, Federer’s main ambition is to add more major titles to his resume and he is still unsure whether he will show up at the Rome Masters.
“It was a good week for me anyways to come here and practice with the best, play a couple of matches,” said Federer, a four-time runner-up at the Country Club. “At least it gives me some information, if I’m trying to be a bit positive right now.”
“I never felt like things were really happening the way I wanted them to be going during the whole match,” Federer said. “The way I felt at 53 sort of showed how I really felt, I guess.”
Earlier, Dimitrov capitalized on Wawrinka’s awful display. The seventh-seeded Swiss got off a sluggish start and never found the right balance. He also failed to convert four break points in the sixth game of the second set.
Widely regarded as a future star of the game, the 23-year-old Dimitrov saved two other break points and sealed his win after Wawrinka sailed yet another forehand out of court to drop his serve.
Wawrkinka was booed as he left the court.
Fourth-seeded Milos Raonic advanced to the quarterfinals for the second straight year, extending his perfect record over clay-court specialist Tommy Robredo to 4-0 with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
