Defending Monte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas made a stunning start to his Monte Carlo title defence as he stormed past Fabio Fognini.
Tsitsipas, seeded at No. 3, had a first round bye before destroying Fognini 6-3 6-0 in the Monte Carlo second round.
Tsitsipas saved a break point in the first game, before claiming the first break of the match in the second game to open an early 2-0 lead.
Tsitsipas served out the third game to push his lead to 3-0 but then Fognini won the next three games to level the set to three games apiece.
From that moment, Tsitsipas absolutely dominated the rest of the match as he went on to claim four breaks in a row and win nine consecutive games to claim a straight-set win an impressive fashion.
Tsitsipas: I played my best
“Great things out there. I was able to really perform close to my best and deliver the result that I did,” Tsitsipas said after his dominant win, per the ATP Tour websitel. “Nevertheless, I was still able to generate some good pace and create some good angles which gave me a lot of points.”
Tsitsipas’ great performance shouldn’t come as a surprise since he arrived to Monte Carlo feeling extremely well.
“[I am] feeling great,” Tsitsipas said in his pre-tournament press conference on Sunday. “Starting with the tournament here in Monte-Carlo, it feels [like] home for me to play on this court and having the opportunity this year to play in front of people and a massive crowd coming from both Italy and France.
“I have some supporters in Monaco. I have family here. It’s great sharing this with them and getting good weather hopefully all week long and a good series of tennis matches.”
Tsitsipas plays next the winner of the match between Lorenzo Sonego and Laslo Djere.