Jannik Sinner continued his dominant form with a convincing win over Sebastian Korda in his first clay match of the season in Monte Carlo.
The world No. 2 has only lost once this season and proved too strong and precise for Korda as he won 6-1 6-2.
Speaking afterwards, Sinner said: “I moved quite well, every year it’s quite tough to come here and try to perform well. I am very happy with the performance.
“It’s always great to be back here, the atmosphere is amazing, so it’s good.”
Sinner said ahead of his opening match in Monte Carlo that his expectations were not too high as he started the switch of surfaces, but he looked just as good on clay as he has done on hard courts so far this season.
He broke in the opening game of the match and then fended off three break points to open up a 2-0 lead.
Another break saw Sinner move 4-1 ahead and he closed out the set in style, chasing down a drop shot and flicking away a winner before drilling a forehand into the corner on the next point.
Sinner continued to fire early in the second set and forced Korda to dig deep to hold his opening service game.
But the resistance didn’t continue as a mishit forehand saw Sinner break for a 3-1 lead.
There was no coming back from there for Korda, who continued to make too many unforced errors as Sinner closed out the win.
Defending champion Andrey Rublev was upset in his opening match by world No. 46 Alexei Popyrin.
The Australian hit 25 winners to earn the sixth top-10 win of his career as he prevailed 6-4 6-4.
“I enjoyed coming out on centre court for the first time. First tournament on clay of the year and I have good memories from clay last year,” said Popyrin.
“I am feeling really comfortable on it and happy to beat a guy who was in form, confident and the defending champ. It was an awesome match.”
Popyrin will next play fellow Australian Alex De Minaur, who beat Tallon Griekspoor 2-6 6-2 6-3.
Italian lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego saw off Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 7-5 and two-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-1 6-0.