Marin Cilic of Croatia started his clay-court season with a shaky win, rallying from a set down to beat Igor Andreev of Russia 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters Tuesday. Andreev was twice a break up in the deciding set but couldn't finished off fourth-seeded Cilic, who hasn't lost much so far this year. Cilic, into the Monte Carlo third round for the first time, next plays either Andreas Seppi of Italy or Albert Montanes of Spain. No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France also reached the third round after beating Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-6 (5), 7-5. Tsonga will play two-time former Monte Carlo champion Ferrero or Benjamin Becker of Germany in the third round. No. 6 Fernando Verdasco of Spain had a far easier win, beating Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-2, 6-1. Verdasco next faces No. 10 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who thrashed Richard Gasquet of France 6-2, 6-0. Berdych dominated from the start, breaking Gasquet's first service game and five times overall. Berdych was rarely troubled and saved the three break points he faced. He clinched victory when he returned Gasquet's weak serve with a forehand pass that the Frenchman could not reach. In remaining first-round matches, No. 12 Tommy Robredo of Spain, No. 13 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, and No. 15 Jurgen Melzer of Austria all won in straight sets. Melzer beat Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-3, 6-2; Robredo beat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-3, 6-3, and Wawrinka won 6-2, 6-4 against Romania's Victor Hanescu. Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands beat Eduardo Schwank of Argentina 6-3, 7-5 to set up a match against five-time defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain on Wednesday, when top-seeded Novak Djokovic also plays. Montanes beat No. 16 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-4, 6-2. Viktor Troicki of Serbia and French players Michael Llodra and Florent Serra all advanced to the second round. Jankovic avoids upset Former champion Jelena Jankovic shook off a passive start to win her opening match of the Family Circle Cup over unseeded Edina Gallovits 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 at Charleston, South Carolina, Tuesday. No. 7 seed Vera Zvonareva, No. 10 seed Elena Vesnina, No. 14 seed Vera Dushevina and No. 15 seed Melinda Czink all advanced in straight-set wins, while No. 12 seed Aleksandra Wozniak needed three sets to move on to the round of 16. Zvonareva, the runner-up to Serena Williams in 2008, won her second-round match 6-2, 6-0 against Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay. In first-round play, No. 11 Virginie Razzano of France became the first seeded player to lose, falling to Monique Adamczak of Australia 4-6, 6-0, 6-2. Adamczak took advantage of her first main draw appearance since September to post her first tour win since January 2008. She made the draw as a lucky loser from qualifying when Dominika Cibulkova withdrew with a hip strain, then overcame Razzano. Olga Govortsova of Belarus, the runner-up on Sunday at Ponte Vedra, retired with left knee tendinitis after losing the first eight games to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic. Two-time finalist Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat South African qualifier Chanelle Scheepers 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and was on course to meet top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the third round. Elena Vesnina of Russia defeated 17-year-old British qualifier Heather Watson 7-6 (4), 6-3, and other first-round winners included Vera Dushevina of Russia, Peng Shuai of China, Vania King and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States, and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands. Serena gets wild card Top-ranked Serena Williams has asked for and received a wild card for next month's Italian Open, signaling that she's ready to return from a knee injury. Having been sidelined since her Australian Open title in January, Serena originally did not enter the tournament in Rome, which begins May 3 and is a key clay-court warmup for the French Open. Serena won the Italian Open in 2002 en route to her only title at Roland Garros. Tournament organizers announced the wild card for Serena Tuesday, adding that nine of the top 10 women have entered, with No. 10 Kim Clijsters the only exception.
