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4/12/10 4:11 PM | Ricky Dimon
David Nalbandian cruises past Andreas Beck in the Monte-Carlo first round on Monday. Ernests Gulbis also advances in straight sets, defeating Marco Chiudinelli.
David Nalbandian continued his impressive 2010 comeback with a 6-3, 6-1 blowout of Andreas Beck on Monday morning in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Nalbandian needed just one hour and eight minutes to set up a clash with No. 7 seed Mikhail Youzhny, who received an opening-round bye.
The 151st-ranked Argentine, who underwent hip surgery in 2009, dominated Beck right from the start. Nalbandian lost a mere three points in his first four service games and his second break of the day finished off the opening set in style.
Beck, dealing with an injury of his own (left elbow) earlier this season, never came close to recovering. The 54th-ranked German, who has not won an ATP-level match in 2010 and had quarterfinal points to defend in Monte-Carlo, dropped serve on two additional occasions and won just six return points in set two. Nalbandian finished with eight aces and one double-fault; Beck, by contrast, struck one ace and double-faulted seven times.
Ernests Gulbis also reached the second round in routine fashion, dismissing Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-2. Gulbis edged Chiudinelli in three sets last month in Indian Wells, but it was a far bigger mismatch on clay.
The 21-year-old Latvian, a 2008 French Open quarterfinalist, fired five aces and never faced a break point. He finished off each set with a break of serve while capitalizing on four of eight break-point opportunities over the one hour and 10-minute encounter.
Chiudinelli, who has not won an ATP clay-court match since 2006 (in part due to injury), served at just 51 percent and won less than half of his second-serve points. So hopeless was the 59th-ranked Swiss from the back of the court that he lost all seven of his second-serve return points in set two.
Next up for Gulbis is one of the two Casablanca finalists; champion Stanislas Wawrinka or runner-up Victor Hanescu.
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