Nadal passes knee test, Djokovic wins

Rafael Nadal emerged a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Jarkko Nieminen with no obvious discomfort to his troublesome left knee as the Spaniard began his quest for a record eighth title at the Monte Carlo Masters yesterday.

Nadal, now 40-1 at the venue where he lost his only match in 2003, won his 38th straight game in the principality as he overcame stubborn resistance from the Finn ranked 48th who claimed the Sydney title in January.

Nadal, who required two weeks of knee treatment after failing to play his Miami semi-final match due to pain, has not lifted a trophy since the French Open ten months ago.

The second seed joined world number one Novak Djokovic in moving through a clay-season opener in straight sets on a cloudy day on the Mediterranean coast.

Djokovic began with a 6-1, 6-4, victory over Andreas Seppi. taking a 5-0 lead over the 44th-ranked Italian and breaking for an early lead in the second on the way to his seventh win in the series.

“I served really well when I needed to,” said Djokovic.

“That’s encouraging, it’s good to have a couple of free points there.

“I was really focused first set and played it well against a tough, quality opponent who plays good on clay. For the first official match since Roland Garros last year, it was satisfying.”

The top seed will next play 16th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov, who put out new Monte Carlo resident Ber-nard Tomic 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

“He’s a very talented player, comes up with some shots that are not really typical,” said Djokovic of Dolgopolov.

“He is very dangerous on clay.”

Three of four other seeds also reached the third round, with Serb number seven Janko Tipsarevic advancing over Spain’s Albert Montanes 6-2, 6-3.

Number eight Nicolas Almagro beat Italian Potito Starace 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 while number nine Frenchman Gilles Simon won a match that began at the early hour of 10.30 a.m., beating Frederico Gil, of Portugal, 6-3, 6-0.

Julien Benneteau registered a French win as he put out 2011 semi-finalist and 15th seed Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-3.

Mikhail Kukushkin beat Italy’s Filippo Volandri 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 6-2 and Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka had the better of Pablo Andujar 7-5, 6-3.