Stan Wawrinka v Gilles Simon Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tennis live: Wawrinka faces familar foe Simon in third round

Former champion Stan Wawrinka aims for the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Thursday when he takes on 15th seed Gilles Simon.

With Novak Djokovic suffering a shock loss in his Monte Carlo opener against World No. 55 Jiri Vesely on Wednesday, the draw at the first clay court Masters 1000 event of the season is wide open and presents a fantastic opportunity for one of the Serbian’s rivals to pick up a big title. Wawrinka, a winner at Monte Carlo two years ago in 2014, is one of the top stars who now has an excellent chance of capturing just his second ATP Masters 1000 title of his career. But Wawrinka must not look too far ahead, as he first must attempt to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final of 2016 after another disappointing Indian Wells/Miami swing throughout the month of March.

Since consistently establishing himself as a top five player, Wawrinka has never progressed past the Round of 16 at Indian Wells or Miami, and that unfortunate trend continued last month. The World No. 4 bombed out in the third round in the Californian desert to the in-form David Goffin before falling in his opener at Key Biscayne against steady Russian Andrey Kuznetsov - a player he had defeated just a week earlier at Indian Wells. While there have been disappointing results throughout the opening quarter of the season - most notably a fourth round exit to Milos Raonic at the Australian Open - Wawrinka is still one of only a handful of players who has captured two ATP World Tour titles so far in 2016, with the Swiss triumphing at Chennai and Dubai.

Looking to get his clay court season off to a winning start and build some confidence heading into his Roland Garros title defence later on, Wawrinka brushed off the cobwebs to post a tight 7-6(2) 7-5 victory over dangerous German Philipp Kohlschreiber. It wasn’t a clinical performance by any means - the 31-year-old fell behind a break in the opening set and then squandered an early break lead in the second, but overall Wawrinka said he was happy with his first clay court outing of the year.

"It was a good first match, first match on clay," said Wawrinka. "It's never easy to find the rhythm and to play the perfect match. In general, I'm quite happy with the level already."

Next up for Wawrinka on Thursday is the ever-present Gilles Simon. Capable of derailing the best players in the world on his day, former World No. 6 Simon is a dangerous threat on clay and has won five of his 12 career titles on the surface. The 31-year-old is also a proven performer at Monte Carlo, reaching the semi-finals back in 2012 and making the Round of 16 in 2006, 2011 and 2015 - and now this season too. Simon has been in fine form this week in Monaco, advancing through to the third round without relinquishing a set in straight-forward victories over Viktor Troicki and Grigor Dimitrov.

Gilles Simon (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)

While Simon has failed to advance past the quarter-finals at any event so far this year, the crafty Frenchman has nevertheless enjoyed a solid season. He was the only man to stretch Djokovic to five sets at the Australian Open in January and last month defeated Marin Cilic en route to the last eight in Miami (lost to Goffin). It was a disappointing February as Simon took part in the mini-European indoor swing, winning just one match over three tournaments at Montpellier, Rotterdam and Marseille, where he was defending champion. Overall it’s a season we’ve come to expect from Simon - randomly reminding us he has the game to trouble the top players but failing to produce a stand-out result at a significant tournament.

Wawrinka and Simon are familiar foes on tour, first meeting in a professional match way back in 2003 at a Futures event in France. While that match has no significance on Thursday’s encounter, Wawrinka has enjoyed two victories over Simon on clay - both at Roland Garros, including last year during the Swiss’s remarkable run to the title. If Wawrinka is playing well he has the power and weight of shot to hit Simon off the court. But if he is still adjusting to clay and delivers another somewhat shaky performance, Simon is more than capable of taking advantage. There’s also always the small chance that Simon will start blasting winners from all parts of the court with his deceptively powerful and flat groundstrokes. Wawrinka is favourite, but a Simon ‘upset’ is certainly not outside the realms of possibility here.