UPDATE 6 pm: Nadal advances to Sunday’s final after an easy win over David Goffin, 6-3, 6-1, this afternoon. Looking for his tenth Monte Carlo Rolex Masters title, Nadal will face fellow countryman Albert Ramos-Viñolas, who beat France’s Louis Poulle 6-3, 5-7, 7-1.
10 am: AS Monaco forward Radamel Falcao, who has been relishing a Champions League victory against Dotmund earlier this week, was seen enjoying the Rolex Masters quarter-finals with his wife Lorelei Taron on Friday, as Nadal and Djokovic took to the court.
While the “King of Clay” Nadal advances to Saturday’s semi-finals after beating Argentinean Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-4, world number two Djokovic lost to Belgium’s David Goffin 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
For Djokovic, a Monaco resident who opened a vegan restaurant Eqvita last August, this was his only second match following months of dealing with an elbow injury.
Meanwhile Goffin, who had yet to beat a top-three player, will meet Nadal Saturday at 3:30 pm on Court Rainier III.
In other semi-final play Saturday, the match between France’s Lucas Pouille and Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who for the first time reaches an ATP World Tour Masters 1000, starts at 1:30 pm. (Feature photo: Facebook Monte Carlo Rolex Masters)
Article first published April 22, 2017.