Swiss swoon on clay as Federer, Wawrinka lose in Monte Carlo

Holder Stan Wawrinka and 2014 finalist Roger
Federer were both dumped out in the third round of the Monte Carlo
Masters on Thursday in a pair of major clay upsets.
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov did the damage to sluggish seventh seed
Wawrinka, whose patchy season continued after he stepped onto what he
thought might have been a safe refuge on the European clay this week.
The Swiss lost 6-1, 6-2 in 55 minutes with nearly 40 unforced errors.

French showman Gael Monfils put on a performance against Wawrinka's
compatriot and second seed Federer, duplicating a win from last
November's Davis Cup final and sending the 17-time grand slam winner
to the sidelines 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
Federer battled errors for an hour and three-quarters in the loss
which feature a massive 38 unforced errors and just 17 winners.
Federer will return to Switzerland for more training before playing
in Istanbul later in the month.,
Federer dropped the opening set after going up a break and held a 5-3
lead in the second-set tiebreak but was unable to maintain the
margin and ended up losing on a first match point for Monfils.
"It was not the best end to the match, that's for sure. Being down a
set and 6-all, maybe up 5-3 in the breaker, is still a bad score to
be in, to be honest.
"I should have done better with the break up in the first (for 3-1).
I did a good job to hang around the second set, I also had chances of
my own.
"I never felt like things were really happening the way I wanted them
to be going during the whole match."
Though he lost, the 33-year-old is not discouraged as the run-up to
Roland Garros in less than six weeks heats up.
"It was a good week for me anyway to come here and practice with the
best, play a couple of matches. At least gives me some information,
if I'm trying to be a bit positive right now."
Canadian fourth seed Milos Raonic reached a Monte Carlo quarter-final
for the second straight year with his defeat of Spain's Tommy Robredo
6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych put out Spanish 12th seed Roberto
Bautista Agut 7-6 (9-7), 6-4.

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