Goffin downs rusty Djokovic on clay
Goffin proved too hot to handle for Novak Djokovic as the Belgian 10th seed reached the Monte Carlo semifinals with a thrilling 6-2 3-6 7-5 victory on Friday.
Former world number one Djokovic saved four match points but cracked under his opponent’s tremendous pressure on the fifth as Goffin set up a last-four meeting with either claycourt king Rafa Nadal or Argentine Diego Schwartzman.
Earlier, Spanish claycourt specialist Albert Ramos followed up his victory over world number one Andy Murray with a 6-2 6-7 (5) 6-2 defeat of Croatian fifth seed Marin Cilic. France’s Lucas Pouille made a fast start before being made to work harder by Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, eventually winning 6-0 3-6 7-5.
In the first European claycourt tournament of the season, Serbian second seed Djokovic was overwhelmed in a one-sided opening set before playing more patiently in the second, but Goffin put on a gritty display in the decider. He was serving at 4-3 but Goffin won the game to love to roar back into contention, taking every opportunity to unsettle the French Open champion.
BOPANA-CUEVAS ADVANCE
Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas kicked of their clay-court season on a winning note as they bounced back from a set down to advance to the pre-quarterfinals here on Wednesday.
After comfortably winning the first set, the Indo-uruguayan duo rebounded to register a 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 10-2 win over the Polish-austrian pair of Marcin Matkowski and Alexander Peya in the men’s doubles event.
MURRAY TO PLAY AT BARCELONA OPEN
Stuttering world number one Andy Murray will attempt to get his season back on track after the Scot accepted an invitation to compete at the Barcelona Open next week.
Murray’s Monte Carlo Masters campaign came to a premature end on Thursday when he lost to Spain’s 15th seed Albert Ramos-vinolas in the third round to get his clay-court campaign for the season off to a poor start in the build-up to Roland Garros.