Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain hits a return to Marcel Granollers of Spain during their match in the Monte Carlo Masters Monday. – Reuters MONACO – Two-time former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain thrashed countryman Marcel Granollers 6-0, 6-3 Monday in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters. The ninth-seeded Ferrero, who was the Monte Carlo champion in 2002 and 2003, broke Granollers' serve five times overall and saved the only break point he faced, in the second set. He next faces Germany's Benjamin Becker. Tenth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also advanced when he beat Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-1. Berdych dropped his serve in the first set but broke Lopez five times and had seven aces to set up a second-round match against France's Richard Gasquet, who beat qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Berdych reached the Sony Ericsson Open final last week, losing to Andy Roddick. No. 11 David Ferrer of Spain and No. 14 Juan Monaco of Argentina also progressed to the second round in straight sets. 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 in the match to seal victory. David Nalbandian of Argentina served eight aces to defeat Andreas Beck of Germany 6-3, 6-1 while German players Philipp Kohlschreiber and Benjamin Becker also won. 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. Becker had little trouble in a 6-4, 6-2 win against Bernard Tomic of Australia. Kohlschreiber next plays third-seeded Andy Murray Wednesday. 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. Wozniak opens with win In Charleston, South Carolina, Aleksandra Wozniak and Alona Bondarenko both won in straight sets Monday at the Family Circle Cup, which is missing its typical star power because of injuries to several high-profile players. The top eight seeded players had the opening day off in the green clay-court tournament, where three of the world's top 30 players had pulled out. Top-ranked Serena Williams is recovering from a knee injury, defending champion Sabine Lisicki has a bum ankle, and three-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova is still recovering from an elbow injury. Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who drove 4 hours to Charleston immediately after winning the MPS Group Championships in Florida Sunday, said this year's field is still tough. The tournament began slowly Monday with just two seeded players taking the court. The 12th-seeded Wozniak fended off six set points in the second-set tiebreaker during her 6-3, 7-6 (9) win over Osterloh, an unseeded American. Ninth-seeded Bondarenko of the Ukraine had an easier time advancing to the next round, beating unseeded Julie Ditty 6-4, 6-2. Rain stops play Fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania beat Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-4, 7-6 (6) Monday in the first round of the Barcelona Open before rain stopped play for the day. Cirstea broke Paszek five times and dropped serve herself on four occasions. Paszek had five doublefaults. Kristina Barrois of Germany defeated Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 7-5, 6-2 in the only other match. Chela wins In Houston, Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina won his first tournament in over three years with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Sam Querrey at the US Men's Clay Court Championships Sunday. The unseeded Argentine pulled away from the hard-serving Querrey in the second set for his fifth tour championship and his first since beating Carlos Moya at Acapulco in March 2007. Chela stayed steady on his favorite surface and wrapped up the title on the first match point when Querrey returned a serve out of bounds. Chela earned $79,900 and Querrey took home $42,000.
