Wawrinka passes in the 2nd round, Murray bows

(Monaco) Winners of three Grand Slams, Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka had a very different day in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Ex-champion Wawrinka came from behind to defeat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, confirming victory on his sixth match point. The 38-year-old Swiss, winner in 2014, will face American Taylor Fritz in the second round.

Murray lost 6-1, 6-3 to the 14^e seeded Alex De Minaur. The 35-year-old Murray, who plays with an artificial hip, struggled against the Australian’s speed in their first clay-court encounter, losing the first set in 34 minutes after allowing three breaks.

De Minaur only needed a set point, Murray sending a backhand into the net. He is now 3-0 against the Briton and he will face Jan-Lennard Struff in the next round.

In the other matches, the Italian Matteo Berrettini showed the exit to the American Maxime Cressy, who committed 14 double faults, 6-4, 6-2.

Berrettini, who slipped to 22^e rank in the world rankings, will face Francisco Cerundolo in the second round. The Argentinian won 90% of his first serves in a 6-3, 6-4 win over the 11-ranked Briton^e Cameron Norrie.

Diego Schwartzman defeated Belgium’s David Goffin 6-4, 6-2 and will face seventh seed, Italy’s Jannik Sinner.

Eventually, Britain’s Jack Draper took down Sebastian Baez 6-3, 7-5 to set the stage for a clash against No. 10 seed Hubert Hurkacz.

Favorite Novak Djokovic and defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, who are both trying to win the tournament for a third time, will play their first match of the competition on Tuesday, in the second round.

Djokovic will face qualifying Russian Ivan Gakhov, while Tsitsipas will face Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.

Rafael Nadal, who has won the competition a record 11 times, as well as second seed Carlos Alcaraz, have both given up playing the tournament.

At the end of the day, the Austrian Dominic Thiem took the measure of the French Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-4, while the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut came from behind to defeat the Serbian Filip Krajinovic 5-7 , 7-6 (10) and 6-1.