Davidovich Fokina Secures Opening Day Win

Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina moved past American Marcos Giron 7-5, 6-3 Sunday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters to set up a second-round meeting with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

The World No. 45 survived a second-set dip on Court Rainier III as he rolled off six-straight games from 0-3 to triumph after one hour and 39 minutes and improved to 1-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against Giron.

Davidovich Fokina has fond memories in Monte-Carlo, having advanced to the quarter-finals last season. The 22-year-old defeated Alex de Minaur, Matteo Berrettini and Lucas Pouille before falling to eventual champion Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Davidovich Fokina plays Djokovic next and will be aiming to earn his first win over the Serbian, with the top seed leading their ATP Head2Head series 2-0.

Grigor Dimitrov followed Davidovich Fokina on to court and also advanced after Nikoloz Basilashvili was forced to retire in the second set when the Bulgarian was leading 6-3, 2-0 after 51 minutes.

The former World No. 3 reached the semi-finals at the clay-court event in 2018 and is making his ninth appearance in Monte-Carlo.

Dimitrov has captured wins against 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka former World No. 7 Fernando Verdasco and World No. 6 Matteo Berrettini at the tournament over the years and arrives this week in confident mood, having advanced to the quarter-finals in Indian Wells last month.

Dimitrov will next face Dusan Lajovic after the World No. 48 won the all-Serbian battle against Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 7-6(4) in one hour and 45 minutes. Lajovic has played his best tennis at the Masters 1000 event in the past, reaching his only final at this level in 2019.

Hungarian Marton Fucsovics also booked his spot in the second round with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 win against South African Lloyd Harris. The 30-year-old will next play 12th seed Denis Shapovalov or Karen Khachanov.