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World number five Daniil Medvedev claimed his first clay-court win of the year with a straight-set victory over Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego to reach the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.<\/span><\/p>\n Medvedev, who has won four hard-court titles this year, beat Sonego 6-3 6-2.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Clay is not Medvedev’s preferred surface, with the 27-year-old Russian – seeded three in Monte Carlo, never having won a title on it.<\/span><\/p>\n “I always struggle on clay, every match is a struggle,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Medvedev, who will play Germany’s Alexander Zverev on Thursday, added: “There’s no rhythm on clay, every bounce is a bad bounce and even when it’s good you’re expecting a bad bounce.”<\/span><\/p>\n World number 16 Zverev beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4 6-4 in just his second match on clay since suffering a serious ankle injury in the French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal last year.<\/span><\/p>\n Also on Wednesday, fourth seed Casper Ruud of Norway beat Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) and will play Jan-Lennard Struff after the German, 100th in the world rankings, upset Australia’s world number 19 Alex de Minaur in straight sets.<\/span><\/p>\n Jannik Sinner will take on Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the third round after the Italian’s opponent Diego Schwartzman was forced to retire with a shoulder injury.<\/span><\/p>\n Belarussian Ilya Ivashka, who beat Britain’s Dan Evans in the previous round, fell 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 to his brother-in-law Karen Khachanov, with the Russian ninth seed now facing compatriot Andrey Rublev, who overcame Spain’s Jaume Munar.<\/span><\/p>\n Lorenzo Musetti will face world number one Novak Djokovic after a comfortable win over fellow Italian Luca Nardi 6-0 6-0, while Chile’s Nicolas Jarry set up a third-round tie with Greece’s second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.<\/span><\/p>\n Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic beat Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov and will meet Taylor Fritz in the last 16 after the American eighth seed got past Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (12-10) 6-2.<\/span><\/p>\n Danish third seed Holger Rune and Italy’s Matteo Berrettini will play each other on Thursday after their respective wins over Austria’s Dominic Thiem and Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n