Dominic Thiem beat Richard Gasquet 6-1 6-4 to set up a second round match against Holger Rune at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Thiem earned his first break in a marathon second game converting his eight chance after 10 deuces. The Austrian player broke twice more in the fourth game of the first set and in the third game of the second set.
Thiem leads Gasquet 3-2 in their five head-to-head matches.
“At the start I played very well. It was good for me that I broke him. I was going ahead the whole match. I am pleased with the performance. Richard is in good form. He already won a tournament this year. It is always tough but at the same time nice to play him because he has such a nice game and is a legend of tennis”, said Thiem.
Thiem is looking to continue his good period of form after reaching the quarter final in Estoril last week, when he scored back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
“It is important to get matches and you only get them if you win, so last week was a very good step with the quarter final in Estoril. It is very nice to win a match and it is my first win at a Masters 1000 tournament for a long time”, said Thiem.
Former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini beat Maxime Cressy 6-4 6-2 to reach the second round at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Berrettini saved a break point at 2-3 in the first set before earning the break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead after two double faults from Cressy.
Berrettini missed two set points in the ninth game at 5-3 but he served out the first set 6-4 at love.
Berrettini raced out to a 4-0 lead with two breaks of serve in the first and third games of the second set. Cressy saved a break point in the fifth game to hold serve for 1-4. Berrettini won his final two service games at 30 to close out the second set 6-2.
Berrettini set up a second round match against Francisco Cerundolo, who beat Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4 in 72 minutes. Cerundolo won 90% of his first serve points and hit 24 winners. Norrie made 18 unforced errors and just eight winners. The British player, who beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the Rio Open and reached the finals in Auckland and Buenos Aires, suffered a second consecutive first round defeat after losing to Gregoire Barrère at the Miami Open last March.
Cerundolo earned an early break before holding serve to open up a 3-0 lead. Norrie broke back at 4-3 to put the first set back on serve.
Cerundolo converted the second of two break points in the second game to take a 5-3 lead before serving out the first set 6-3 after 33 minutes.
Both players saved break points at the start of the second set. Cerundolo converted his second break point to take a 5-4 lead. The Argentine player served out the match al 15 in the 10th game.
Cerundolo drew level to 1-1 in his two head-to-head matches against Norrie.
The Argentine player beat Felix Auger Aliassime in the second round en route to reaching the quarter final at the Miami Open.
Roberto Bautista Agut rallied from one set down to beat Filip Krajinovic 5-7 7-6 (12-10) 6-1. Krajinovic saved four break points to hold serve in a four-deuce second game before breaking serve to love in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. Bautista Agut saved a break point to hold serve in the seventh game before breaking back to draw level to 4-4. Krajnovic broke serve in the 11th game to win the first set 7-5.
Bautista Agut saved two break points in the fifth game to hold serve for 3-2. Krajinovic fended off three break points in the eighth and in the twelfth games to force the second the second set to the tie-break.
Bautista Agut went up a mini-break four times and did not convert five set points in the tie-break before Krajnovic earned a match point at 10-9. Bautista Agut saved it with an ace out wide and sealed the tie-break 12-10 with a forehand passing shot.
Bautista Agut broke Krajinovic three times in the third set to seal the win on his first match point. The Spaniard ended a four-match losing streak.
Jack Draper beat Sebastian Baez 6-3 7-5 in his debut in his Monte-Carlo to set up a second round match against Hubert Hurkacz. Draper hit six aces, saved 11 of the 12 break points he faced and converted three of his four chances.
Draper earned his first break in the fourth game to open up a 3-1 lead. The young British player saved three break points in the fifth game to hold serve at deuce for 4-1. He fended off two more break points before serving out the first set 6-3 at deuce with an ace.
Draper earned his first break in the fifth game at deuce to take a 3-2 lead. Baez converted his third break-back in the sixth game at deuce to draw level to 3-3. Draper broke for the second time in the 11th game and served out the match 7-5 in the next game at deuce after saving a break point.
Botic van de Zandschulp came back from one set down to beat Marton Fucsovics 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1. Van de Zandschulp saved two match points at 5-6 15-40. The Dutchman earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2. He broke twice and served out the win on his first match point in the third set.
Diego Schwartzman beat David Goffin 6-4 6-2 to set up a second round match against Jannik Sinner. Schwartzman and Sinner are teaming up in the doubles tournament.
Qualifier Ivan Gashkov beat Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 6-3 setting up a second round match against world number 1 Novak Djokovic.
Jaume Munar edged past Marc Andrea Huesler 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-4 and will face Andrey Rublev in the second round.
Greek brothers Stefanos and Petros Tsitsipas battled past Hubert Hurkacz and Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (4-7) 10-5 after 1 hour and 50 minutes in the first round of the doubles tournament.
Taylor Fritz and Holger Rune beat the Italian team formed by Simone Bolelli and Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 setting up a second round match against Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.
Andreas Mies and Fabrice Martin fended off two match points to beat Francisco Cerundolo and Daniel Evans 6-3 4-4 11-9.
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden rallied past Rafael Matos and David Vega Herrnandez 3-6 6-3 10-8.