Defending Champ Tsitsipas Reaches Monte-Carlo Third Round Via Retirement

Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the third round at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Tuesday when Benjamin Bonzi was forced to retire with a wrist injury.

The two-time defending champion was savouring his return to the clay courts of Monaco with punishing serves and forehands, but Bonzi was unable to continue beyond 22 minutes, with Tsitsipas leading 4-1 on Court Rainier III.

"A great start out there. A 3-0 lead, I will always take it," Tsitsipas said post-match. "Happy to be back on the terre bateau of Monte-Carlo. It's a very unique location during the year and I'm happy this is the time of the year we get to play on these courts. It brings back very good memories.

"It's very unfortunate what happened out there for my opponent. I wish him the best moving forward."

Aiming to become the third player to win the Monte-Carlo title at least three times in a row, the second seed awaits Nicolas Jarry or Alexei Popyrin, with the pair set to square off on Wednesday in the Principality. (Ilie Nastase won the Monaco trophy three straight years from 1971-73, while Rafael Nadal reigned from 2005-12 and 2016-18.)

Looking ahead to his meeting with Jarry or Popyrin, Tsitsipas is preparing for a tough match no matter the opponent. 

"Good servers, both of them," he assessed. "I know that they can play good on clay and for me this is a challenging match, whether it's one or the other."

Tsitsipas' Tuesday victory stretched his Monte-Carlo winning streak to 11 matches following a third-round loss to Daniil Medvedev in 2019. As he defends 1,000 Pepperstone ATP Rankings points this week, the World No. 3 has slipped behind Casper Ruud and Medvedev at No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

With his record now standing at 15-4 this season, Tsitsipas improved to 3-0 against Bonzi with the win. The Frenchman's injury denied him an opportunity to fight for what could have been his first Top 10 win against the Australian Open finalist.