TOP-RANKED Australian Alex de Minaur was at his brutal best, making light work of Swiss Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka to reach the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters in a flurry. Needing just 63 minutes against the wildcard, de Minaur won 6-3 6-0, including the last eight games of the match.

Wasting no time on the clay at the Masters 1000 event after a two and a half hour rain delay, de Minaur was able to quell his opponent’s power early, and then take complete control to go from 4-3 up to winning 6-3 6-0 in just over an hour.

“My attitude [was important],” de Minaur said post-match. “[I didn’t play] my best tennis to come out with on the first match on the clay. So I stayed tough, stayed solid, I played tough when I needed to and I found my way into the match and started playing better and better.”

The Australian won 64 per cent of his service points and 57 per cent upon return, with Wawrinka unable to get it all to click on the day. Only broken once, de Minaur set up 12 break point opportunities and ran at a 50 per cent success rate throughout the match.

In his fourth time at the event, de Minaur will face Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor in the second round to try and reach the Round of 16 at Monte Carlo for the first time in the Australian’s career.

“I think with every year of experience I look forward to the clay season even more,” de Minaur said. “I look at it in a way that there is no reason I can’t get good results. In the past, maybe mentally I wasn’t really ready to tell myself I was going to be good on the clay. That, plus I put on a little bit of weight, put on a bit of muscle.”

In other first round results, fellow seed Hubert Hurkacz fought past a determined Jack Draper to reach the Round of 32, while French wildcard Gael Monfils knocked off Australian Aleksandar Vukic, who was a late inclusion to the draw, replacing Jordan Thompson who pulled out less than half an hour before their scheduled match.

The first Round of 32 matches got underway as well, with world number one Novak Djokovic breezing past Roman Safiullin and becoming tournament favourite after third seed Carlos Alcaraz was a late withdrawal. Fifth seed Alexander Zverev also won, with compatriot Jan-Lennard Struff and Italian Lorenzo Musetti the other plays through to the Round of 16.

MONTE CARLO MASTERS ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated Roman Safiullin (RUS) 6-1 6-2
[5] Alexander Zverev (GER) defeated Sebastian Ofner (AUT) 6-3 6-4
Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) defeated Arthur Fils (FRA) 6-3 7-5
Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) defeated Borna Coric (CRO) 7-6 6-1

MONTE CARLO MASTERS ROUND OF 64 RESULTS:

[10] Hubert Hurkacz (POL) defeated Jack Draper (GBR) 6-4 3-6 7-6
[11] Alex de Minaur (AUS) defeated [WC] Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 6-3 6-0
[Q] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) defeated [LL] Facundo Diaz Acosta (ARG) 6-2 6-4
Tomas Etcheverry (ARG) defeated Nicolas Jarry (CHI) 6-4 7-5
Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) defeated [WC] Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 6-3 6-1
Sebastian Korda (USA) defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) 6-1 6-2
[WC] Gael Monfils (FRA) defeated [LL] Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) 6-7 6-3 7-5
Zhizhen Zhang (CHN) defeated Marcos Giron (USA) 6-4 3-6 6-3