French Open boost for Tsitsipas

MONTE CARLO • Stefanos Tsitsipas yesterday sealed back-to-back Monte Carlo Masters 1000 titles with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the final.

The Greek third seed hammered 21 winners and made only 11 unforced errors in the Monaco sunshine to win in an hour and 36 minutes. It was the 23-year-old's eighth ATP Tour title and first in 11 months as he made the perfect start to the clay-court season.

"I'm very proud of the amount of belief I had in my game," said Tsitsipas, who reached the Roland Garros final last year and will hope to go one better next month.

"He fought in moments I didn't really expect him to fight and hit some incredible winners. I believe that's a great result against him."

He joins an illustrious list of players to retain the Monte Carlo Masters, including Rafael Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Thomas Muster and Bjorn Borg.

Tsitsipas, who beat Russian Andrey Rublev in the Monte Carlo final 12 months ago, has now won four clay tournaments in his career.

With top-ranked Novak Djokovic struggling for match fitness and record 21-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal still recuperating from a cracked rib, the world No. 5 could be one to watch at the French Open. Last year, Tsitsipas lost to Djokovic despite leading by two sets, but the experience gained from losing his first Major final could be invaluable ahead of another tilt.

Davidovich Fokina had knocked out Djokovic earlier this week, as well as upset Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz and 2017 ATP Finals winner Grigor Dimitrov but could not repeat those heroics in his first ATP final, losing for the third time in as many meetings with Tsitsipas.

This is the second time the 46th-ranked player has lost to Tsitsipas at Monte Carlo, exiting in the quarter-finals last year. He was also defeated by the same opponent in Rotterdam in February.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE