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Nadal opens his claycourt season with easy win
Rafael Nadal dazzled Finland's Jarkko Nieminen with a florescent yellow shirt and his all-round game in a comfortable 6-2 6-2 win in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
Rafael Nadal dazzled Finland's Jarkko Nieminen with a florescent yellow shirt and his all-round game in a comfortable 6-2 6-2 win in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
The world number one, bidding for a record seventh straight title by the turquoise sea in Monaco, broke straight away and the Finn received ironic cheers from the packed crowd when he finally won a point but Nadal was still not quite at his best.
Spain's Nadal, playing his first match of the year on his favoured surface after receiving a first-round bye, will meet France's Richard Gasquet in round three on Thursday after the 13th seed beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 6-1.
Fourth seed David Ferrer trounced Feliciano Lopez 6-2 6-0 but sixth seed Fernando Verdasco surprisingly lost 6-4 6-3 to Tommy Robredo in another all-Spanish tie while Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Frederico Gil and Viktor Troicki went through.
Andy Murray plays Radek Stepanek later, while Roger Federer won on Tuesday to set up a meeting with Marin Cilic but world number two Novak Djokovic has skipped the first men's claycourt tournament of the year in Europe with a knee problem.
