29 year old Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Federer to lift ATP Monte Carlo 1000 tournament in 3 sets. It was his first ATP 1000 Masters series title. In an all Swiss final, Wawrinka defeated Federer for only the second time in his career. Federer showed glimpses of his glorious past but could not overcome his countryman in the match.
Loss of Nadal at Monte Caralo is always a rarest of the rare moment. It happened this year again against his fellow countrymen at the QF stage. The match started on the brightest possible note. 3rd game of the first set took 16 tough minutes. Up to 3-3, both the players have exchanged 61 points (45 minutes) in total. After 102 points and 80 long minutes, first set moved to the tie break. In the end, Ferrer overpowered 8 time champion (2005-12) in straight sets.
Andy Murray and Argentine Del Potro were unavailable for the tournament due to their injuries. Garcia Lopez was the dark horse of the tournament. He caused upset by defeating in-form Tomas Berdych. Before bowing out, he even went on to win first set against Novak Djokovic in QF.
Ferrer couldn’t repeat the QF magic against eventual champion in first semi final. In the other SF, Federer played quality tennis in first set against Djokovic. The Serbian was in severe pain in the second set and it helped Fed to retain his supremacy in H2H count.
In European ATP Clay Court season, Nadal is definitely the ‘King of Clay’. In 2012, Nadal lifted the cup at Monte Carlo, Rome and Paris. Again in 2013, he maintained his reputation by lifting trophies at Madrid, Rome and Paris. It left no doubt that who is the ‘Baadshah’.
But his domination is in danger this year. He is looking jarred since his Australian Open final loss against Wawrinka. Top players are sensing that they can go beyond runner up trophy. Federer is going only up and up since his association with coach Stefan Edburg. He has beaten Djokovic twice this year and gave him closest possible fight at Miami Masters. Djokovic is hungrier than ever for clay court trophies. Ferrer must be full of confidence after beating Nadal. He waited for his first clay court win over World no. 1 for 10 long years.
Other players have also improved their game drastically. Isner is tall and hard hitter of the ball. 3 years ago, he was very close to hit the headline. He won first 2 sets against Nadal in round 1 at Paris but then, experience of Nadal prevailed. Grigor Damitrov, Nishikori and Andreas Seppi are laborious players who play matches with fewer unforced errors. Ernest Gulbis is a player who has all the potential to be in top ten. Cilic is reaching closer to his good past form.
Monte Carlo was just the beginning. Wait for more European clay court action in the coming months.