There were certainly a few upsets by the end of a sunny Wednesday in picturesque Monte-Carlo as the draw whittled down to the third round.

Seeds like former finalist Tomas Berdych and No7 Lucas Pouille lost in their openers. The runner-up last year, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, fell to Philipp Kohlschreiber, and the in-form Argentine Diego Schwartzman, seeded 10, fell to another perennial favourite, Richard Gasquet. Not that the Frenchman has not relished these courts before: It was where, as a charismatic teenager, he first beat Roger Federer on his way to his first Masters semi-final. But Schwartzman was 10-1 on clay this year already, including the title in Rio.

No13 seed Fabio Fognini, a popular player at the best of times and especially so with Italy just a few kilometres down the road from the Monte-Carlo Club, won in Sao Paulo and made the semis in Rio, and he had another work-out on clay in Davis Cup last week. But he was soon beaten by the big power of unseeded Leonard Struff.

Another popular player in these parts, unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi, has returned from a post-Rotterdam absence to nurse his chronic back problem to survive two three-set tests over Kyle Edmund and lucky-loser Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, while at the top of the draw, the big—and big-talented—Karen Khachanov, became the last man standing in No16 seed Adrian Mannarino’s tricky quartet. The young Russian’s reward, though, is 10-time champion Rafael Nadal—for there were no surprises in that No1 slot.

But while there were surprises in some quarters, and predictability in others, there was uncertainty about the form of one of the biggest names in the draw, two-time champion Novak Djokovic. He had, certainly, cruised past Dusan Lajovic in his opener, but the qualifier never looked a threat as he sprayed errors and applied little pressure to his illustrious compatriot.

The reason for the uncertainty, though, was the last 12 months or so for Djokovic. He struggled increasingly with an elbow problem through the 2017 clay season—he lost in the quarter-finals in Monte-Carlo—and after retiring in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, did not play again until this January.

At the scene of his most successful Major, the Australian Open, he made the fourth round, but was far from his best, subsequently had minor elbow surgery, and lost his openers in both Indian Wells and Miami.

To add more uncertainty, he went on to announce a parting of the ways with Andre Agassi and Radek Stepanek—after relatively short stints in his coaching team—but back at his home base, he was back in the company of former coach Marian Vajda.

And while Djokovic may have slipped to No13 in the ranks, and may have struggled with form and confidence thus far, the former No1 has an outstanding record in clay Masters. Twice he has won in Madrid, four times in Rome from eight finals, and twice in Monte-Carlo from four finals.

Good things, then, seemed to be converging for the Serb, and his second-round opponent, the fast-improving 21-year-old Borna Coric, would certainly test the water for Djokovic.

The young Croat made the semis in Indian Wells, the quarters in Miami, and broke the top 30 for the first time as a result. And although Djokovic worked an early break in the fourth game, Coric got the break back in what became a tight and tense battle of the baselines.

Djokovic did not yet have his formidable rhythm, and for almost every forehand winner, he made an error—though errors came more often on his backhand wing. Two consecutive backhand errors, indeed, offered up an easy break, and had Djokovic under real pressure through to 5-5.

It was Coric, in fact, who looked as though he would press for the set. Djokovic found himself facing two break points courtesy of a double fault, but with the court wide open, Coric made his own big mistake, and Djokovic held.

Come the tie-break, and with Djokovic beginning to feel the pace and length of the court more confidently, the former champion slotted in a few aces, returned with precision, and another poor shot at the net from Coric put him 1-5 down. Djokovic served it out, 7-6(2).

The two men broke each other in the first two games of the second set, but Coric then dropped nine straight points from 40-0 up to lose serve and face a love hold from Djokovic, 3-1.

It looked to be plain saving, now, as the familiar Djokovic hit his marks at the extreme corners, but the nerves kicked in, along with some fatigue, and he found himself in a battle royal when attempting to serve out the set, having already failed to convert two match-points on Coric’s serve at 5-3.

It would last almost 13 minutes, through six deuces, as Coric dug deep to fend off another eight match points to break and level at 5-5. But a loss of focus was swiftly punished in the next game, Djokovic broke, and would attempt to serve for the match again. This time there was no mistake, 7-5, but it had taken two and a quarter hours.

He may be match-rusty, and lacking match-fitness, but this long, testing match could be just what Djokovic needed. There were errors along the way, but there were also familiar signs of the rhythm, accuracy and flexibility that the Serb brings to court. He was certainly happy to have come through:

“I was happy with the way I stayed focused. I haven’t played too many matches in the last nine months… He started off the year very well, so it was a very good win.”

The tests come thick and fast, though, in this top quarter of the draw. Dominic Thiem, No5 seed and playing on his favourite surface, faced his own challenge in his opener against Andrey Rublev, a two hour 40 minutes three-setter, but he did beat Djokovic in their last match, at Roland Garros last summer. As Djokovic said:

“Thiem is one of best players in world in general, but probably in the top three on this surface… He’s obviously very motivated to do well on this stage.”

Elsewhere, the unseeded Kei Nishikori, also regaining form after his own injury woes, followed his first-round win over Berdych with a good win over Daniil Medvedev, 7-5, 6-2. No11 seed Roberto Bautista-Agut beat Feliciano Lopez to set a third-round tie against David Goffin, and No2 seed Marin Cilic beat Fernando Verdasco, 6-3, 7-6(4). He next plays Milos Raonic.

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