On April 11, Beijing time, the first round of the ATP1000 Monte Carlo Masters began to compete, and three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka competed with a wild card, and his opponent was The 37th in the world.
This is Wawrinka's return to the Tour after 13 months, and the last time he played on the Tour dates back to The Doha in March last year. The two sides fought fiercely in three sets, and Bublick reversed after losing the first set to eliminate Wawrinka 2-1.
The two sides broke each other's serves at the start of the first set, and in the 6th set Wawrinka broke again to take a 4-2 lead. In the 9th set, Wawrinka successfully saved the game to win the first set 6-3.
In the second set, Bublick defused the break point in the 3rd set and Wawrinka saved 2 break points in the 4th set to save the set. In the 10th inning, Wawrinka defused three end-of-set points to hold their serves tenaciously. In the 12th inning, Wawrinka broke through in a set with no way back, and Bublick won the second set 7-5.
In the decider, Bublick came up to defuse two break points to save his serve, and in the second set he broke Wawrinka's serve before again taking a 3-0 lead. Wawrinka's serve was again deflected in the 6th set and Bublick came to win the set 5-1. In the 7th set, Wawrinka saved the final point of the match to complete the break, and the set went down to 2-5. In the 8th inning, Bublick broke Wawrinka's no-turning serve to win the decider 6-2.
In a 2-hour and 7-minute match, world-ranked 37th-ranked Bublick defeated the returning Wawrinka 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to make it to the second round of the tournament. Wawrinka missed his first victory in 14 months, with his last win going back to the first round of the Australian Open early last year.