• Monte Carlo Masters

Federer makes emphatic start to clay court season

Roger Federer took 50 minutes to defeat Philipp Kohlschreiber © Getty Images

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Monte Carlo Masters seedings

Roger Federer kicked off his clay court season in style on Tuesday by defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Federer has never won the Monaco event, finishing runner-up on three previous occasions, unsurprisingly losing to Rafael Nadal in all three. The Swiss began his path towards the 2011 title with a 6-2 6-1 second-round victory over Kohlschreiber, who never got into the match.

Federer has faced questions in recent times over his supposed decline in the sport after he fell to world No. 3, with Novak Djokovic taking the first grand slam of the season in Australia. Djokovic's triumph means Federer now does not currently hold any of the four big titles, yet his match record continues to be outstanding.

Of his 27 matches played this season, Federer has won 23, reaching the semi-finals or better in every tournament entered. The four times that he has lost have all come against the two players placed higher than him in the rankings.

Certainly Kohlschreiber caused no problems on Federer's least favourite surface, creating just one break point as Federer broke on four occasions. Victory arrived in 50 minutes and sets up a potential clash with Marin Cilic in the next round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was one of the highest-profile casualties on Tuesday, losing his second-round clash in straight sets to Ivan Ljubicic. Facing a particularly tough opponent in the experienced Croatian, Tsonga capitulated in the first-set tiebreak, eventually losing 7-6(2) 6-4.

Big serving Canadian Milos Raonic delivered a lesson in clinical tennis as he defeated Ernests Gulbis in the second round, triumphing 6-4 7-5. Raonic converted all four of his break points and served seven aces to defeat the dangerous Latvian.

The No. 5 seed Tomas Berdych, a wildcard entry into the event, had no trouble disposing of Olivier Rochus - with the Czech cruising to a 6-2 6-3 win.

Elsewhere, 16th seed Gilles Simon advanced from the first round 6-3 6-2 against Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, Feliciano Lopez defeated Janko Tipsarevic in three sets, and Albert Montanes saw off Xavier Malisse 6-4 6-2.

Other first-round winners included Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Fabio Fognini, Maximo Gonzalez and Pere Riba.

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