Grand Slam winning trio ease into Masters third round

MONTE CARLO, Monaco, Apr 17 (AFP): Grand Slam winning trio Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka all looked in sublime form as they progressed to the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters with straight set victories Wednesday.
Top seed Nadal, champion at eight of the last nine editions, spent 72 minutes in beating Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili, who held a shock 3-1 lead early on, 6-4, 6-1.
Federer, seeded fourth at a Masters event that he has never won, looked in top shape as he romped to a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of talented Czech veteran Radek Stepanek in 52 minutes.
But Wawrinka, the third-seeded Australian Open winner, spent even less time on court, with his 45-minute match tying that of holder Novak Djokovic's opening win the day before as the Swiss hammered Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-2.
Wawrinka won the first set in just 18 minutes, then "slowed" the pace.
Nadal rallied after trailing early on against Gabashvili, and never looked like suffering what would only have been his third ever defeat at the event.
The top seed-who moved to wthin one win of bringing up a half century of victories-won six games in a row on his way to claiming the opening set and reaching 4-0 in the second.
A break by his opponent for 4-1 only delayed the inevitable, with Nadal getting the break straight back for 5-1 before taking the match on his first match point a game later.
Nadal plays Italian Andreas Seppi in the third round after he defeated Pablo Andujar 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-4.
"I started slowly, but he was playing aggressively and hitting strong," said Nadal.
"In the first match you want to find rhythm and play some long points.