Today’s Monte‑Carlo matchups

Monte-Carlo’s Thursday card opened with one upset chance and one reminder of the pecking order: Alexander Zverev beat Zizou Bergs 6-2, 7-5 after Bergs arrived off a straight-sets win over Andrey Rublev. The official order of play had them first on Court Rainier III at 11 a.m. local time on April 9. (atptour.com 1) (atptour.com 2) That result matters because Bergs had come into the round of 16 with his first back-to-back tour-level wins of 2026 and a 6-4, 6-1 clay-court win over Rublev on Wednesday, while Zverev had needed three sets to get past qualifier Cristian Garin 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. One player arrived hot; the other arrived tested. (atptour.com) The local story is Valentin Vacherot, a Monaco player who reached Thursday by beating 2025 Monte-Carlo finalist Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(6), 7-5. His reward is Hubert Hurkacz, who got through Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 6-3 and is scheduled later on Court Rainier III after Carlos Alcaraz’s match. (atptour.com 1) (atptour.com 2) That makes Vacherot the home underdog in the part of the draw where every crowd roar gets louder, because Monte-Carlo is one of the few events where a player from Monaco can feel like the whole stadium is leaning in behind him. The tournament’s own site lists Thursday as a 12-match third-round day running from April 9 in the middle of a week-long Masters event from April 5 to April 12. (montecarlotennismasters.com 1) (montecarlotennismasters.com 2) The most volatile matchup still waiting on Court des Princes is Jiří Lehečka against Alexander Bublik, with both men carrying seed numbers and very different styles into the same slot. Lehečka, the No. 11 seed, got there by coming back past Alejandro Tabilo 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3, while Bublik is listed as the No. 8 seed in Thursday’s order of play. (atptour.com) (atptour.com) That court assignment also tells you what kind of day this is in Monte-Carlo: Matteo Berrettini and João Fonseca were placed ahead of Lehečka and Bublik on Court des Princes, and Alexander Blockx against Alex de Minaur was placed after them. It is a round-of-16 schedule built like a conveyor belt, with eight singles matches spread across two main courts from 11 a.m. local time. (montecarlotennismasters.com) (atptour.com) The bigger picture is that Wednesday already cracked the draw open before Thursday’s play really settled in. Berrettini beat Daniil Medvedev 6-0, 6-0, Vacherot knocked out Musetti, Bergs knocked out Rublev, and qualifier Alexander Blockx removed Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-3. (atptour.com) (atptour.com) So Thursday is not just about star names like Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Zverev filling the main court. It is also about whether the draw snaps back toward the top seeds or keeps drifting toward the players who already used Wednesday to throw out the script. (atptour.com) (atptour.com)