Monte-Carlo Masters: Rublev holds off Monfils to make last 16

Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 7 seed, moved into the last 16 of the Monte-Carlo Masters by defeating Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-4, 7-6 (2) at Monte-Carlo Country Club on Wednesday.

Rublev, ranked No 9, will face Frenchman Arthur Fils, the No 12 seed, next. Monfils broke for 5-4 in the second set and had four set points but couldn’t take them.

“At 5-4 I served very poorly, and I’m not happy about it,” Monfils explained afterwards. “I should do better than that. I should be better tactically, make better choices. It was not what I wanted today. Even before 5-4, I had a break and I should have done better. I really have to do better choices, and I was not able to do that today.”

Monfils, ranked No 44, won against Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan (4-6, 6-1, 6-1) in the previous round of the Monte-Carlo tournament.

Monte-Carlo Masters 1000, other second-round results (Monte-Carlo Country Club, clay, EUR 6.128.940, most recent results first):

• Daniil Medvedev vs. Alexandre Muller
• Valentin Vacherot vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Frances Tiafoe vs. Alexei Popyrin
• Novak Djokovic vs. Alejandro Tabilo
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Casper Ruud
• Tomas Machac vs. Alex De Minaur: wednesday
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Carlos Alcaraz: wednesday
• Arthur Fils beat Flavio Cobolli: 6-2, 6-4
• Daniel Altmaier (Q) beat Richard Gasquet (WC): 7-5, 5-7, 6-2
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Nuno Borges beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4
• Lorenzo Musetti (13) beat Jiri Lehecka: 1-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Jack Draper (5) beat Marcos Giron: 6-1, 6-1
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (6) beat Jordan Thompson: 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
• Matteo Berrettini beat Alexander Zverev (1): 2-6, 6-3, 7-5