Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov highlighted Sunday's first-round winners at the Monte-Carlo Masters, the first clay-court Masters 1000 event of the year.
The 17th-seeded Dolgopolov upended Latvian Ernests Gulbis, 6-2, 6-4 on the red clay at the beautiful Monte-Carlo Country Club.
In other opening-round action Sunday, France's Jeremy Chardy defeated Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands, 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); Frenchman Nicolas Mahut downed Austrian wild card Dominic Thiem, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; and Russian Dmitry Tursunov topped Robin Haase of the Netherlands, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.
Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in last year's marquee final, putting an end to Nadal's record eight-year reign at this prestigious tournament.
Nadal and Djokovic are this week's top seeds. They currently hold all nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles between them, as well as the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
The 2014 Monte-Carlo winner will collect $760,000.
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