Qualifying for the Monte-Carlo Masters began on Saturday and continues into Sunday, but Sunday also marks the first real day of competition in the season’s first clay court event. There are three first round matches, one of which features a seeded player. France’s Gilles Simon begins his tournament with the final match of the day.
Monte-Carlo Masters 2012: Day 1, First Round Matches Kick Off Sunday
Ivan Ljubicic and Ivan Dodig kick off the tournament’s main draw, but not until12:00 p.m. local time, 6:00 a.m. ET on the main court. These players are in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s quarter and the winner will face the winner of the Fernando Verdasco-Olivier Rochus match in the second round. Victor Troicki and Jean-Rene Lisnard play the second match of the day, and the winner will face Andy Murray in the second round. Simon closes out the day with a match against wild card entry Benjamin Balleret. Simon is the No. 9 seed and is in the quarter of the draw with Janko Tipsarevic.
The eight top-seeded players all get first round byes at the Monte-Carlo Masters. This includes No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal, who is this tournament’s seven-time defending champion.
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