Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, Monaco
The theme of the day was comeback victories and it started with Dominic Thiem (AUT). The Austrian was in all sorts of trouble against Andrey Rublev (RUS). Rublev served for the match and was broken and never recovered. To add insult to his injury he double faulted on match point to give the victory to Thiem. The Austrian won 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.
Then we had Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) against Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA). The Frenchman took the first set and regained his composure in the third set only to give the break right back and then was broken again to lose the match. Although Dimitrov struggled to find his form, he managed to pull off the three-set victory 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Mischa Zverev (GER) got in the conversation with his three-set victory over Lucas Pouille (FRA). This was a very strange match; the Frenchman dominated the first set only to be dominated by the German in the second set. The match fittingly was decided in a tiebreak which went the way of the German 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(3).
Then there were two Spaniards who won their matches after dropping the first set. Feliciano Lopez (ESP) fought off the stern test from Benoit Paire (FRA) to win 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4. Fernando Verdasco (ESP) almost squandered his lead, he got off to an early lead in the first set only to lose it; however, the Spaniard found his range just in the nick of time to win the tiebreak in the second set and then he dominated Pablo Cuevas (URU) in the third set to win 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-1.
Diego Schwartzman got bageled in the first set by his compatriot, Guido Pella; however, you can never underestimate the fighting spirit of Schwartzman. Pella’s confidence is shaky at the moment and that made him vulnerable once his opponent found his range. Schwartzman won 0-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The final comeback victory of the day belonged to our spotlight player, Alexander Zverev (GER). Zverev got the first break but could not consolidate. He had to go to three sets to get the 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Gilles Muller (LUX).
SOURCE OF IMAGE: Zimbio.com (Julian Finney/Getty Images Europe: Dominic Thiem)
