TO SEAL BACK-TO-BACK MONTE CARLO TITLES STAFANOS TSITSIPAS BEATS ALEJANDRO DAVIDOVICH.
Stefanos Tsitsipas made light work of Alejandro Davidovich to seal back-to-back Monte Carlo titles. The No.3 seed made light work of the first set – taking it in 31 minutes – and, while the second set was a tighter affair, Tsitsipas won it on the tie-break to secure a a 6-3 7-6(3) win.
Stefanos Tsitsipas once again demonstrated his clay-court prowess as he successfully defended the Monte-Carlo Masters title with a comfortable victory over Alejandro Davidovich.
The Greek No.3 seed claimed a 6-3 7-6(3) win in one hour and 36 minutes to deny the world No.46 Davidovich the chance to become the lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champion since Tomas Berdych in 2005.
It is the eighth tour-level title of Tsitsipas’ career and his fourth on clay as the 2021 French Open finalist underlined just why he is regarded as one of the main contenders for the Roland Garros crown this year.
The 23-year-old world No.5 was the heavy favourite coming into the contest but it was Davidovich who made the brighter start.
Indeed, there were no sign of nerves for the 22-year-old unseeded Spaniard, who produced a bewitching crosscourt dropshot to steal an early break for a 2-1 lead.
However, he followed up with a sloppy service game that allowed Tsitsipas to break straight back to love with a quite sublime forehand pass on the run.
It would prove to be significant for the defending champion as he began to settle into a more comfortable rhythm that saw him start to hold with relative ease.
The Greek’s backhand was standing up well on the defence while his forehand was able to do damage with depth and accuracy. It paved the way for a crucial break in the eighth game that allowed him to serve out a 31-minute opener to love.
The No.3 seed maintained his momentum in the second set as he quickly raced into a 2-0 lead. Davidovich looked flat and a shadow of the player who had accounted for three Masters 1000 champions in the shape of Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz and Grigor Dimitrov en route to the final.
There was an evident danger that his first ATP Tour final could come to an underwhelming conclusion, but the Spaniard dug deep to find the form that had helped him make such big headlines this week and reel off three games in a row.
Tsitsipas was suddenly on the back foot but once again showed good focus during some difficult moments before seizing another break to lead 5-4. The Greek saw two break points swatted away by Davidovich but made it count on a third with a brutal crosscourt forehand once again doing the damage.
It looked all set for the world No.5 to serve it out but he wobbled under pressure from his fired-up opponent, who channelled all of the energy of the ‘Foki, Foki, Foki’ chants from the crowd to somehow break right back.
Tsitsipas recovered from the blow of failing to serve it out to force a tie break where he raised his level to prevail 7-3 and become just the eighth active player to clinch multiple ATP Masters 1000 titles in his career and the first back-to-back Monte Carlo champion since Rafael Nadal won three in a row from 2016-18.
