Rafael Nadal easily beat Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-0 Wednesday to win his 28th straight match at the Monte Carlo Masters, and top-seeded Novak Djokovic also won in straight sets to advance to the third round. The second-seeded Nadal broke serve five times in the match. The Spaniard has won five straight titles at Monte Carlo, where he hasn't lost since a third-round exit to Guillermo Coria in 2003. He missed the 2004 event because of injury. Australian Open finalist Andy Murray lost 6-2, 6-1 to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. The third-seeded Briton dropped serve five times and failed to earn a single breakpoint chance. “I just couldn't find the court. When it's like that, it's kind of difficult to play,” Murray said. “I tried a few different things. I tried serve and volleying a couple of times, I tried hitting some high balls. (It) didn't make a whole lot of difference.” Murray has lost his last two opening matches in straight sets, following his defeat to Mardy Fish in the second round at the Sony Ericsson Open last month. Nadal next plays Michael Berrer after the German beat 14th-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-4, 6-4. Djokovic beat Florent Serra of France 6-2, 6-3. Djokovic raced into a 4-0 lead in his first clay-court match of the season, but faltered at times. He faced nine break points overall and lost his serve once in each set. He won on his first match point when Serra's backhand return bounced out. Djokovic recently split with Todd Martin after hiring him to work in tandem with longtime coach Marian Vajda. Martin had been working with Djokovic on his serve, but the Serb is now trying to go back to his old way of serving. Djokovic plays 13th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka and said he expects a tough match against his Swiss opponent, who he leads 7-2. Seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia lost David Nalbandian of Argentina 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in a match lasting nearly three hours. Two-time former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, No. 11 David Ferrer of Spain, No. 12 Tommy Robredo of Spain and Wawrinka also advanced in straight sets. The ninth-seeded Ferrero, Monte Carlo champion in 2002 and 2003, did not face a single break point in his 6-3, 6-4 win over Germany's Benjamin Becker, Ferrer topped Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2, Robredo beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 6-3; and Wawrinka beat Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6-1, 6-4. Philipp Petzschner of Germany beat 15th-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (4), 6-2, and Spain's Albert Montanes beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-0. Wozniacki advances Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark rallied to beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 Wednesday in her opening match at the Family Circle Cup at Charleston, Carolina. Wozniacki will play on Thursday against 16th-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who ousted Michelle Larcher De Brito of Portugal 6-3, 6-1. Two players withdrew from their second-round matches Wednesday: third-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Ayumi Morita of Japan. Azarenka, the world No. 9, retired with a left hamstring pull while leading qualifier Christina McHale of the United States 6-2, 2-2; and Morita retired with a thigh strain while trailing Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-4, 2-0. American Melanie Oudin, seeded 13th, advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Sophie Ferguson of Australia, her second straight-set victory of the tournament. In other second-round matches, Vera Dushevina of Russia defeated Chang Kai-chen of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-2, Evgeniya Rodina of Russia outlasted Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, and Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine defeated American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. Sixth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated American Vania King 6-2, 6-1, while 10th-seeded Elena Vesnina of Russia advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, and Angelique Kerber of Germany beat Monique Adamczak of Australia 6-3, 6-2. Fifth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France was to play Peng Shuai of China in an evening match.
