MONACO: Rafael Nadal began his bid for a seventh straight Monte Carlo Masters title with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win over Jarkko Nieminen Wednesday. The top-ranked Spaniard, who next faces Richard Gasquet, did not face a single break point against the Finn and extended his winning record at the clay-court tournament to 33 matches. A year-ending loss to Roger Federer in the final of the ATP World Tour Finals, and consecutive losses to Novak Djokovic in recent Masters finals at the Sony Ericsson Open and BNP Paribas Open mean Nadal has not won anything since the Japan Open. Still, Nadal remains the big favorite to clinch his 44th career title, and his 19th Masters tournament, even though he said he needs a bit more time to get his feeling back on clay. Nadal remains unbeaten on clay since losing to Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the French Open two years ago. Nadal was undefeated on clay last year, winning two other Masters titles in Rome and Madrid, and his fifth French Open. “Playing him on clay is very tough. He dropped very few sets here,” said the 13th-seeded Gasquet, who beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-1. Third-seeded Andy Murray finally won a match, beating Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4. The 23-year-old Murray had failed to win a set since losing to Djokovic in the Australian Open final, going out early in Rotterdam and at the Masters tournaments in Indian Wells and Key Biscayne. “I played great, dominated the match from the second, third game. (I) was a wee bit tentative towards the end, which I think is probably natural,” Murray said. “I hit the ball really well, made him do a lot of running, was able to dictate a lot of points with my forehand – especially from the first and second shot in the rally.” Murray's early exit from Key Biscayne meant he had he had more time to prepare for the clay-court season, and the Briton clearly felt the benefits. Murray next plays 16th-seeded Gilles Simon of France, who defeated Albert Montanes of Spain 6-3, 6-4. Fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain easily beat Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-0, and No. 8 Gael Monfils of France defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 7-5, 6-2. Ferrer, who next meets big-serving Milos Raonic of Canada, broke his opponent's serve five times, while Lopez had six double-faults. Seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, No. 9 Nicolas Almagro of Spain, No. 11 Viktor Troicki of Serbia and No. 15 Marin Cilic of Croatia also advanced to the third round. Melzer defeated Robin Haase of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, Almagro labored to beat Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 6-7 (6), 7-5, 7-6 (10), Troicki beat Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Cilic was leading Pere Riba 5-2 when the Spaniard retired. He next faces 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.
