Monte Carlo Masters 1000: three Argentines with the classification of Báez and the return of Djokovic

The Argentinian Sebastian Baez21, one of the most prominent tennis players of the new generation, gave another noteworthy step in his career: at the start of the European tour on clay, so valuable for the South Americans, he surpassed the classification of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 and will play -for the first time- in the main draw. In this way, there will be three national rackets in the Principality, where they already had a guaranteed place Diego Schwartzman Y Federico Delbonis.

Báez (66th in the world ranking) earned a place in Monte Carlo by defeating, in the second round of qualifying, the Polish Kamil Majchrzak (76th) by 6-1, 4-6 and 6-1, in one hour and 37 minutes. In the first challenge of the classification, the player born in Billinghurst, party of San Martín, had beaten the Italian Marco Cecchinato (current 97th, semifinalist of Roland Garros 2018) by 6-7 (4-7), 6-1 and 7-6 (8-6), saving two match points and a 2-5 in the tie-break of the last set.

The national tennis player trained by Sebastián Gutiérrez will participate in the main draw of a Masters 1000 for the third time in his short elite career. The other performances were also this year, in Indian Wells and in Miami, where he lost in his presentations (in Miami, precisely, against Majchrzak). Finalist, in February, of the ATP 250 in Santiago de Chile, he hopes to meet his rival shortly after the respective draw of the places available for those who passed the qualy.

In Montecarlo, the third Masters 1000 of the season, Peque Schwartzman, who is the 12th seed, will also perform. The man from Buenos Aires will debut this Tuesday against the Russian Karen Khachanov (24th). In the event of advancing, the player who this season played in the finals in Buenos Aires (lost to Norwegian Casper Ruud) and Rio de Janeiro (lost to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz) will face the Hungarian winner Marton Fucsovics (57th) and South African Lloyd Harris (40th).

Azuleño Delbonis will also face a rival from the classification in the first round. The winner will face the German Alexander Zverev, 3rd in the world ranking and second seeded in Monte Carlo, in the second round.

The contest on brick dust obtained by William Vilas in 1976 and 1982, achieved by Alberto “Luli” Mancini in 1989 and for William Coria in 2004, will mark the return of Serbian Novak Djokovic to tour. The number 1 in the world, who only played one tournament this season (he fell in the quarterfinals in Dubai), is the top seed and in the second round he will play against the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (45th), who This Sunday he beat the American Marcos Girón (53rd) 7-5 and 6-3. In the match that everyone longs for, Nole could meet Alcaraz (recent winner of the Miami Masters 1000 and heir to Rafael Nadal) in the quarterfinals.

This Monday, Djokovic will start his week 365 at the top of the ranking ATP, extending his own record. The 34-year-old Balkan player lifted the Monte Carlo title in 2013 and 2015, and has a record of 35 wins and 12 losses in Monaco.

The defending champion of Monte Carlo, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (in 2021 he beat the Russian Andrey Rublev in the final), will be the third seed and will face the Italian Fabio Fognini (32nd) or the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (58th) in the second round. °). The contest is broadcast on ESPN and Star +.

The contest will distribute 5,802,475 euros in prizes. The champion will get a check for 836,335 euros.