In the evening, the rising star of the circuit, Carlos Alcaraz plays his first match as a Top 10 player, two days before celebrating his 19th birthday: the young Spaniard, freshly titled in Barcelona, ​​faces the Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili (27th).

It's not yet the best "Djoko": the Serb, after a first quarter at a standstill or almost, marked by his incredible expulsion from Australia, for lack of vaccination with Covid-19, is still looking for rhythm .

His fragility in the forehand in particular and his amortizations not always well affected against Monfils (21st) testify to this.

Serbian Novak Djokovic, during his victory, 6-3, 6-2, against Gaël Monfils, in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, May 3, 2022 GABRIEL BOUYS AFP

However, that was more than enough to defeat 6-3, 6-2 in less than an hour and a half of the French N.1, also in the recovery phase after a month without competition, due to a "discomfort at one foot", and too often made a mistake (about thirty) when he went on the attack.

Gaël Monfils, during his defeat, 6-3, 6-2, against Serbian Novak Djokovic, in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, May 3, 2022 GABRIEL BOUYS AFP

Casually, it's Djokovic's first victory in straight sets since he started the machine again with the return of the circuit to Europe for the clay-court season in April.

"Best performance"

In Monte-Carlo, he fell from the start (against Alejandro Davidovich) and in Belgrade, after three wins in three sets, he sank in the third set of the final, lost 6-0 to Andrey Rublev.

"I would say it's my best performance of the year," said "Djoko" after beating Monfils again.

Serbian Novak Djokovic, during his victory, 6-3, 6-2, against Gaël Monfils, in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, May 3, 2022 GABRIEL BOUYS AFP

In the round of 16, he will face the former world No.1 Andy Murray, now 78th and equipped with a titanium hip since 2019, or the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (16th).

In the meantime, the Serb already has one certainty: he will remain on the throne of world tennis at the end of the Madrid week.

Facing Monfils, in general, all his service games were hung up, and it was even the 35-year-old Frenchman who got the first break points.

Two before the interruption by a heavy downpour, after 25 minutes of play, and one just after.

Serbian Novak Djokovic serves against Gaël Monfils, during his victory, 6-3, 6-2, in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, May 3, 2022 GABRIEL BOUYS AFP

But the world No.1 got away with it each time and, conversely, was surgical when the opportunity arose.

A statistic sums up the balance of power between the two players: three out of three converted break points for "Djoko", zero out of five for Monfils.

Nadal back on Wednesday

The day after the first steps of the world No.1, it is those of Rafael Nadal, back six weeks after a stress fracture to a rib, which are expected.

The Majorcan now knows the opponent against whom he will launch - late - his season on ocher, his beloved surface, and of which he will have to be wary: the Serb Miomir Kecmanovic (32nd), semi-finalist last week in Munich.

Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, during his semi-final at the Munich Open against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, April 29, 2022 Christof STACHE AFP / Archives

Quarter-finalist in Indian Wells and Miami earlier in the season, Kecmanovic occupies his best ranking, at 22, and dismissed the Kazakh Alexander Bublik (33rd) 6-4, 7-5 in the first round.

The last game of "Rafa" dates back to March 20, when he lost in the final in Indian Wells (6-3, 7-6 against Fritz) the day after his rib injury.

The Spaniard Rafael Nadal serves against the American Taylor Fritz, during the final of the Indian Wells tournament, on March 20, 2022 in California Frederic J. BROWN AFP / Archives

The world No.3 and trophy holder, Alexander Zverev, as well as the No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas will also compete on Wednesday against the last Frenchman in the race, Lucas Pouille.

In the women's draw, two players will be in the quarter-finals of the Madrid tournament for the first time: the Spaniard Sara Sorribes (47th) on home soil, after a long showdown with the Russian Daria Kasatkina (6-4 , 1-6, 6-3 in 2h30), and the American Jessica Pegula (14th), falling 7-5, 6-1 from the Canadian Bianca Andreescu.

© 2022 AFP