Nadal, Djokovic progress

Monte Carlo : Novak Djokovic blew nine match points before finally completing a 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 win over Borna Coric in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

The former world number one frittered away an incredible seven match points on his own serve before finally completing the victory at the 10th attempt after two hours and 15 minutes.

It was a stern test for a player battling back to fitness from an elbow injury.

Djokovic - seeded ninth at an event he has twice won - will face Austria’s fifth seed Dominic Thiem on Thursday for a quarter-final place.

Thiem’s solitary and most famous win over Djokovic in six previous meetings came in the French Open quarter-finals last season when he enjoyed a 7-6 6-3 6-0 win against the Serbian at Roland Garros.

Rafael Nadal needed just two sets to defeat Aljaž Bedene, downing the 28-year-old Slovenian in short order 6-1 6-3.

Kei Nishikori had earlier produced a 7-5 6-2 win over world number 49 Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

Japan’s former world number four Nishikori - who has dropped to 36 in the world after a five-month injury absence - trailed 1-3 in the opening set, but recovered to progress to a meeting with Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the last 16 after one hour and 41 minutes.