Rafa roars into clay court season.

Rafa Roars Into Clay Court Season

Rafael Nadal made an explosive start to his 2008 clay court season at Masters Series Monte-Carlo Wednesday, winning the first eight games of the match en route to a 6-0, 6-3 win over big-serving Croatian Mario Ancic. Chasing a record fourth consecutive Monte-Carlo title, Nadal needed just 76 minutes to advance.
Nadal improved to a 20-1 record in Monte-Carlo, with his only loss coming in the third round to Guillermo Coria in 2003 (did not play in 2004 due to injury). Since that loss, Nadal captured titles over Coria in 2005 and World No. 1 Roger Federer the past two years.
The 21-year-old Mallorca native is playing in his first ATP clay court tournament of the season after compiling a 22-6 match record on hard court. He is looking to capture his first ATP title in nine months since July 22, 2007 in Stuttgart. In his last tournament at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on April 6, he lost to World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the final.
Nadal next meets 2002-2003 Monte-Carlo champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, who defeated Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3. Ferrer has also reached the semifinals two of the past three years and boasts a 28-6 career record in Monaco.
Nadal has ranked No. 2 for a record 144 consecutive weeks (since July 25, 2005-present). He has a 134-13 career record on clay (18 titles). On clay in 2007 he captured five of his six season titles at AMS Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, AMS Rome, Roland Garros and Stuttgart. His only loss on the surface came to Roger Federer in he Hamburg final, which snapped Nadal's record 81-match clay court winning streak.
He has won 94 of 95 clay court matches since April 2005.
David Nalbandian broke open his match with Belgian Olivier Rochus by winning six consecutive games to race from 3-4 in the first set to 6-4, 3-0. Nalbandian, who ended the 2007 season by winning back-to-back ATP Masters Series titles in Madrid and Paris, saved five of six break points he faced in the match.
Nalbandian is seeded to meet arch rival Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.