Nadal tops Gabashvili to advance to Monte Carlo 3rd round

Spain’s Rafael Nadal kicked off his quest for a ninth Monte Carlo Masters title with a comfortable 64, 61 victory Wednesday over Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Gabashvili, who attained a careerhigh ranking of 58 earlier this month and made it through the qualifying stage, took advantage of a sluggish start by the world No. 1 and had a chance to grab a 41 lead in the first set.

But Nadal lifted his game to take that set and then race out to a 40 lead in the second set, whipping off six games in a row in the process.

Irked by a second timeviolation warning from French chair umpire Pascal Maria, Nadal switched into a higher gear late in the second set to wrap up the match in just over an hour.

It was Nadal’s 49th singles win at the Monte Carlo Masters and 299th singles victory on clay, the surface on which he has reigned supreme for nearly a decade.

Nadal boasts a record haul of eight Monte Carlo Masters titles but he lost to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in last year’s final, his first defeat at this event in 10 years.

He will seek his 300th singles victory on clay on Thursday when he takes on 35thranked Italian Andreas Seppi, a 76 (75), 57, 64 winner over Spain’s Pablo Andujar.

In other action Wednesday, Swiss world No. 4 Roger Federer continued his strong start to the season with a 61, 62 shellacking of Czech Radek Stepanek, while 10thranked Canadian Milos Raonic rallied to defeat Taiwan’s Lu Yenhsun 67 (47), 62, 61.

Spain’s Tommy Robredo defeated France’s Julien Benneteau 46, 60, 61, but his countryman Roberto BautistaAgut lost 76 (86), 64 to Italy’s Fabio Fognini.

Czech Lukas Rosol cruised past France’s Michael Llodra 64, 64 and will take on Federer on Thursday.

The Monte Carlo Masters is one of the biggest claycourt events on the ATP World Tour calendar.