Rafael Nadal sprang back to classic clay-court form as the eight-time winner at the Monte Carlo Masters dealt out a 6-2, 6-1 opening victory against Frenchman Lucas Pouille on Wednesday to reach the third round.
The comprehensive win in 68 minutes was pedestrian by the standards of the king of clay, who is searching for renewed confidence after winning only one minor title since the French Open nearly a year ago.
Nadal never faced a break point while breaking his wild card opponent three times.
Nadal lifted his last trophy in the principality in 2012; he has been training on clay for a fortnight trying to regain his touch after a poor American hard court swing in March.
The 28-year-old Spaniard won the Monte Carlo title every year from 2005-12, but fell to Novak Djokovic in the 2013 final, a loss which ended an 81-match winning streak on clay in the month of April as well as 46 consecutive wins in Monaco.
He went down in the quarter-finals a year ago to compatriot David Ferrer and now stands 51-3 at the tournament where he first got a wildcard as a raw teenager in 2003.
Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych reached the last 16 with a defeat of Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
Holder Stan Wawrinka made quick work of Argentine Juan Monaco 6-1, 6-4 as the Swiss seventh seed began the defence of his first Masters 1000 title.
“I played a great match. It’s tough first round to play Monaco, but it’s a typical clay court match,’’ said the 2014 Australian Open winner.
“This is quite good, I’m really happy with the start. It’s been really difficult over the last two months had two last months (Marseille quarter-final and second and third-round defeats in the U.S.).
“I was happy to change, to come on clay again. The conditions are great here, so I’m happy with the first match.’’
Spanish 12th seed Roberto Bautista Agut put out German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) while Spain’s 16th seed Tommy Robredo hammered compatriot Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-1.
