Tabilo Overcomes Nerves, Stuns Djokovic At Monte-Carlo Masters

Alejandro Tabilo
Alejandro Tabilo (photo: ATP Tour video)

MONTE-CARLO/WASHINGTON, April 9, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Two-time champion Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion Novak Djokovic would just as soon forget his 18th appearance at the Monte-Carlo Country Club on Wednesday afternoon, despite setting a new record for most appearances at the event in the Open Era. That’s because the 37-year-old Serbian great, who lifted the title in the Principality in 2013 and 2015, was stymied again in his quest to become the third man since the Open Era began in 1968 to capture 100 tour-level titles.

After finishing his 2024 clay season on a 10-0 run, reaching the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros (before surrendering a walk-over to Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals) and winning the Paris Olympics gold medal in July, Djokovic faced the last player to beat him on the red-dirt surface, 32nd-ranked Alejandro Tabilo of Chile. The 27-year-old lefty got the better of Djokovic in the third round at the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome almost a year ago – and used that knowledge to beat him, again, this time in Monte-Carlo, 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 27 minutes.

The upset win against the 25-time major champion advanced Tabilo to the third round against No. 15 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who fought off 256th-ranked wild card Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, to collect his 50th career ATP Masters 1000 win on clay.

The Canadian-born Chilean Tabilo benefited from 29 unforced errors from the World No. 5 and third-seeded Djokovic – 18 of them from his forehand side – who struggled with his baseline game. He converted three of eight break points, including in the sixth game of the opening set and twice in the second set – the second one which put him ahead of Djokovic for good at 5-3.

Meanwhile, Tabilo hit 16 winners – 10 of them off the forehand side – and only committed 16 unforced errors. He won 81 percent of his first-serve points and outpointed Djokovic 66-49 after overcoming some early nerves.

Upon securing match point on his second attempt, Tabilo sealed his victory with a kiss as he acknowledged the applause of the crowd after being congratulated at the net by Djokovic, who fell to 12-6 for the season and has lost two-straight matches.

“I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this. It was horrible,” Djokovic said during his post-match news conference. “I did not have high expectations. I knew I’m going to have a tough opponent and I knew I’m going to probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn’t expect.”

Coupled with his first-round victory over Stan Wawrinka on Monday, Tabilo has strung together back-to-back tour-level wins for the first time since last August. The victory over Djokovic improved his 2025 win-loss record to just 4-9 after starting the year on a six-match losing streak. It was his fourth career Top-20 triumph.

“It has been a tough year, so a little bit of the nerves was there,” Tabilo said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “I remembered last time what I did well [in Rome] and, thankfully, I served well today and it helped me a lot to regroup my game after the first game. It was an unreal match.

“Match by match, I’ve been getting looser and looser. I’m just so happy I’m feeling better.”

Alcaraz becomes first-time Monte-Carlo winner

Meanwhile, World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain finished the 2024 clay season on a 12-1 run, winning his first Roland-Garros title in June and following it with a silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He’s been anxious to get back on the clay and to record his first win at the Monte-Carlo Country Club.

As the third full day and fourth overall of the 2025 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters unfolded in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, the No. 2 seed Alcaraz was featured on Court Rainier III mid-afternoon Wednesday hoping to erase a two-match losing streak, in which he lost to Jack Draper of Great Britain in the semifinal round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells and also fell in his opening-round match to Belgian David Goffin at the Miami Open, both on hard courts.

The 21-year-old Spaniard, playing Monte-Carlo for the second time in his career after missing last year’s event due to an injured right arm, faced No. 22 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina. While it took Alcaraz a set to get warmed up, he erased the early threat from the Argentine and came out for the second and third sets on fire – dropping just one game while winning 12 of the last 13 games of the match – and won convincingly over the Argentine, 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, in an hour and 38 minutes to move into the round of 16. By the end, Alcaraz showed the best he had to offer and made the necessary adjustments after losing the first set.

Alcaraz overcame 31 unforced errors to hit 19 winners – including 13 from his forehand side – converted six of eight break points and outpointed Cerundolo 76-55. Like Alcaraz, Cerundolo also committed 31 unforced errors. He was unable to sustain the early momentum he had achieved against Alcaraz, who has now won 12 of 13 career matches against opponents from Argentina.

“I didn’t start well,” said Alcaraz, who improved to 16-4 on the season (1-1 lifetime at Monte-Carlo, 3-0 head-to-head against Cerundolo). “I just wanted to grab a good pace at the beginning of the match. But I made a lot of mistakes. I think I let [Francisco] play inside the court and dominate the points. I was more and more into the defensive part. After the first set, I knew I had to do something else. I had to play more aggressively, I had to play my own tennis. I started to play my own tennis – drop shots, going to the net, more aggression – and the most important adjustment was in my returns. I tried to return closer to the line and push him.”

At stake this week, Alcaraz is attempting to complete the set of match wins at all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments after losing his opening-round match in the Principality to Sebastian Korda of the United States in 2022. He’s one step closer after defeating Cerundolo, and his win over the Argentine snapped his losing streak.

Next, Alcaraz will face 84th-ranked qualifier Daniel Altmaier of Germany, who defeated 38-year-old wild card Richard Gasquet of France, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, in two hours and 36 minutes on Court Rainier III. On Monday, Gasquet defeated Matteo Arnaldi of Italy to record his 19th win in Monte-Carlo, 23 years after his first win in 2002.

Gasquet, who made his debut in Monaco as a 15-year-old wild card in 2002, was attempting to become the second-oldest man to reach the round of 16 at an ATP Masters 1000 event in series history (since 1990. He previously announced he will retire after Roland-Garros next month. Gasquet has now made his last appearance at Monte-Carlo and finishes with a 19-12 lifetime win-loss record in the Principality, including a 2005 semifinal finish.

Around the Monte-Carlo Country Club

• Ninth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia defeated 39th-ranked Frenchman Alexandre Muller, 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-2, in two hours and 48 minutes on Court Rainier III Wednesday evening, in a match the World No. 11 failed to convert from ahead 5-3 in the second set.

Medvedev is competing outside the Top 10 for the first time in two years – 110 weeks – and he’s been without a title since winning on clay at Rome in 2023.

Against Muller, Medvedev overcame 45 unforced errors to hit 28 winners – including seven aces – and won 72 percent of his first-serve points. He converted five of 10 break-point chances against Muller, who committed 49 unforced errors and hit 30 winners. Medvedev outpointed Muller 115-110. Next, he will face No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia in Thursday’s round of 16.

• Among the winners on Court Des Princes advancing to the round of 16: No. 13 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, who defeated No. 28 Jiri Lehecka, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, to reach the Monte-Carlo round of 16 for the third straight year; 2023 champion and No. 7 seed Andre Rublev of Russia, who beat No. 44 Gaël Monfils of France, 6-4, 7-6 (2), to snap a three-match losing streak; and last year’s finalist and current No. 4 seed Casper Ruud of Norway, who defeated No. 52 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, 6-2, 6-1.

• Advancing from Court EA de Massy to the round of 16 were: No. 42 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, a former Monte-Carlo finalist, who beat Tomas Marin Etcheverry of Argentina, 7-6 (2), 6-3; No. 12 seed Arthur Fils of France, a quarterfinalist at both Indian Wells and Miami last month, who defeated No. 36 Flavio Cobolli of Italy, 6-2, 6-4; and No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia, a Monte-Carlo quarterfinalist last year, advanced over No. 21 Tomas Machac of Czechia, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

• Also, advancing from Court 9 to the round of 16 were: No. 43 Nuno Borges of Portugal, who defeated No. 51 Pedro Martinez of Spain, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4; and No. 27 Alexei Popyrin of Australia, who rallied to beat No. 14 seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Wednesday’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters results

Thursday’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters order of play

By the numbers

• Alejandro Tabilo joined Marat Safin and Jiri Vesely as the only three players who have faced Novak Djokovic at least twice and not lost.

• With his 68th Masters 1000 match win, five-time titlist Carlos Alcaraz passed Andy Roddick for the third most at the Masters 1000 level before turning 22 years of age.

• With World No. 2 Alexander Zverev‘s loss to Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday at Monte-Carlo, it ensures that World No. 1 Jannik Sinner will make his return from his three-month suspension next month in Rome still ranked No. 1.

“Quotable …”

“It’s a matter that I’m losing. It’s as simple as that. You win one or two matches like this, there is no more questions, for me in my mind. But I lost three sets in Buenos Aires, I lost three sets in Rio, I lost three sets in Indian Wells, I lost three sets in Miami, I lost three sets here, and I didn’t win a single one. So that’s the matter.”

– World No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany, who is 6-5 since losing the Australian Open final in January, during his post-match news conference after losing in three sets to Matteo Berrettini in Tuesday’s second round.

 

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