Tomas Berdych beats Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-1 to reach 2nd round of Monte Carlo Masters

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Berdych reaches 2nd round at Monte Carlo Masters

MONACO — Two-time champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain easily defeated countryman Marcel Granollers 6-0, 6-3 on Monday in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

The ninth-seeded Ferrero, who was the Monte Carlo champion in 2002 and ‘03, broke serve five times overall and saved the only break point he faced. Ferrero will face Germany’s Benjamin Becker in the second round.

Tenth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic dropped his serve before defeating Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-1. Berdych will face France’s Richard Gasquet, who beat qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, one week after losing to Andy Roddick in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open.

No. 11 David Ferrer of Spain and No. 14 Juan Monaco of Argentina also progressed to the second round. Ferrer won 6-2, 6-4 against Peter Luczak of Australia, while Monaco beat Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 7-5, 7-5 after breaking his opponent for the sixth time to seal victory.

David Nalbandian of Argentina served eight aces to defeat Andreas Beck of Germany 6-3, 6-1, while Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber labored to beat Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in a tense match where both players dropped serve six times.

Kohlschreiber will play third-seeded Andy Murray on Wednesday.

“He’s talented. He’s given the top guys a lot of good matches over the last couple of years,” Murray said. “Very good clay-court player, and I need to play well to beat him.”

In other matches, Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis beat Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-2; Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan beat Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 7-6 (2); Spain’s Nicolas Almagro defeated Simon Greul 3-6, 7-5, 6-2; Julien Benneteau of France beat Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr. 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; and Germany’s Philipp Petzschner won 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Five-time defending champion Rafael Nadal plays Eduardo Schwank or Thiemo de Bakker in the second round Wednesday. The third-ranked Nadal, seeded second at Monte Carlo behind No. 2-ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia, is seeking his first title this year.

“If I don’t have a good result here, in Rome or Madrid, my chances (at) Roland Garros or Wimbledon will be less,” Nadal said Monday. “I never felt I am invincible on one surface, even on clay.”

Nadal has won 27 straight matches at Monte Carlo, beating Djokovic in last year’s final, and enters the tournament having lost semifinals to Roddick and Ivan Ljubicic on hard courts at the Sony Ericsson Open and the BNP Paribas Open.

“I played well in all the tournaments this year, I (just) didn’t win,” Nadal said.

Top-ranked Roger Federer is skipping the event, so he and Nadal will have to wait before getting an insight into each other’s clay form ahead of the French Open, where Nadal will look to reclaim the title from his rival.

Winning at Monte Carlo preceded victory at the French Open for Nadal from 2005-08, until his upset loss to Robin Soderling at Roland Garros in the fourth round last year.