Rafael Nadal stretched his winning streak at the Monte Carlo Masters to 23 matches on Wednesday by beating Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-2, 6-3 in the second round. Nadal is chasing a fifth straight title at the event, and each time he has won in Monte Carlo he has gone on to win the French Open. He has won 17 straight on clay since losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round of the Rome Masters in May 2008. “I had some tough moments during the match,” Nadal said. Roger Federer, who lost to Nadal in the last three Monte Carlo finals, also advanced, beating Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-4, 6-4. The top-ranked Spaniard will next face Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, who beat two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin of Russia 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (6). Federer struggled briefly when serving for the match, trailing 40-30. But the second-ranked Swiss player got a reprieve when Seppi's return bounced out and he then clinched the match when another Seppi return sailed long. It was Federer's first match since getting married last weekend. Federer has beaten Seppi three times this year and improved to 5-0 overall without dropping a set against the big-serving Italian player. Federer will next face 13th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka, his doubles partner at the Beijing Olympics, on Thursday. Wawrinka beat Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina 2-6, 7-5, 6-2. Fifth-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina became the highest seeded player to be eliminated when he failed to capitalize on a good start and lost to wild card Ivan Ljubicic 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain, No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, No. 12 David Nalbandian of Argentina and Simone Bolelli of Italy also advanced. Verdasco beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4; Daydenko defeated Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 6-3; Nalbandian beat Marcel Granollers of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; and Bolelli beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-5, 6-3. The No. 14 Croatian Marin Cilic was humbled by Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-0. The victory earned the Italian a match-up with fourth seed Andy Murray on Thursday. In other second-round match, Montanes beat Jean-Rene Lisnard of Monaco 6-2, 6-4. Venus survives Sania scare Second-seeded Venus Williams struggled past Sania Mirza of India 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in the second round of the Family Circle Cup on Wednesday. It took the fifth-ranked Venus almost 2½ hours to defeat the 100th-ranked Sania on the green clay of stadium court at the tennis center on Daniel Island. Venus, who won the Family Circle five years ago, improved to 3-0 against Sania. “When she's playing against me, she's got to go for it and I think there's also a sense of nothing to lose,” Venus said. “When you look at the numbers and the rankings and statistics, you know, I'm supposed to win this match, so I think that gives her an opportunity to swing freely.” While Venus struggled, it was a big day for fellow American Melanie Oudin, who advanced to the third round with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over No. 29 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, seeded ninth. Oudin will face 13th-ranked Marion Bartoli of France next. Elena Vesnina of Russia outlasted eighth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5. Peng Shuai, the 10th seed, edged Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 7-5, 2-6, 7-5, but 11th-seed Alona Bondarenko was ousted by Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-4, 7-5 for a third straight time in the all-Ukraine clash, and 12th-seeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands was defeated by Anastasia Rodionova of Russia 6-2, 6-4 on the day she was named to the US Fed Cup team. Sabine Lisicki of Germany beat qualifier Lenka Wienerova of Slovakia and next faces Venus. Kirilenko wins Defending champion Maria Kirilenko reached the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open on Wednesday by beating Severine Bremond of France 7-5, 6-2. The Russian broke Bremond four times on the outdoor clay and will next face Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain, who beat Masa Zec Peskiric of Slovenia 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. Roberta Vinci stunned second-seeded Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 6-2 in an all-Italian matchup. Vinci will next play Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus, who rallied to beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 3-6, 6-3, 6
