MONACO — Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka both exited the Monte Carlo Masters in the third round Thursday, and Rafael Nadal continued his road to recovery by overcoming John Isner in three sets. Federer, who played his first tournament in nearly four weeks, made too many mistakes in a 6-4, 7-6 (5) loss to Gael Monfils after Wawrinka — the defending champion — was routed 6-1, 6-2 by Grigor Dimitrov.
“It's the very beginning of the clay-court season. It's going to take me some time to feel 100 percent comfortable,” the second-ranked Federer said. “Not many guys are perfect this week.”
Nadal might not be at his best yet, but his fighting spirit remains intact. The eight-time Monte Carlo champion, who arrived with a big question mark surrounding his form, came out on top of a tense match with the big-serving Isner to reach the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3 win.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic enjoyed another stroll and extended his winning streak to 14 matches, defeating Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 6-0 to set-up a quarterfinal match against Marin Cilic, who also advanced.
At 33, Federer's main ambition is to add more major titles to his glittering resume. His quest for a second French Open begins on May 24 and he believes he has enough time to make the proper adjustments.
After they traded early breaks, Monfils took advantage of Federer's consecutive forehand errors to break in the ninth game and he served out the set on his first occasion.
Federer's charges to the net in a tight second set were loudly cheered by the fans but his lack of consistency from the baseline proved decisive. He failed to build on a 5-3 lead in the tiebreaker, losing the final four points.
Against Isner, Nadal showed the grit and patience that have defined his 10-year reign on clay. The nine-time French Open champion waited until the middle of the third set to secure a break after withstanding an avalanche of aces and groundstrokes delivered by the 15th-seeded American.
Nadal fended off two set points in the tiebreaker but was broken in the ninth game of the second set when he went long with a forehand. The turning point came in the fourth game of the decider, when Nadal earned two break points with a passing shot. He converted the first one with a thundering forehand winner and punched the air in his trademark celebration.
Fourth seed Milos Raonic beat Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, while sixth seed Tomas Berdych defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. — Agencies
