MONTE CARLO, April 21: Britain's Tim Henman and Argentine Guillermo Coria used their power game to move into the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
Last year's runner-up Coria, the number three seed, made light work of German Nicolas Kiefer 6-0 6-3, while Henman triumphed on a surface he regards as his least favourite by beating David Sanchez in three sets.
In other action Marat Safin avenged his Davis Cup loss earlier this year to Max Mirnyi with a 6-4 6-3 victory over the 'Beast' from Belarus and Lleyton Hewitt bounced back from a nightmare start to beat Argentine Gaston Gaudio 1-6 7-6 6-1.
Henman, making the best of the fast and sunny conditions in the principality, beat the Spanish baseliner 6-3 6-7 6-3. Having beaten American Vince Spadea in the opening round, the sixth-seeded Briton displayed another solid, if somewhat erratic, performance in only his second claycourt match of the season.
A semi-finalist two years ago for his best ever result on clay, Henman suffered a second-set hiccup and nerves at key moments against Sanchez but did enough to win. Henman will face either Spaniard Feliciano Lopez or Chile's Nicolas Massu in the third round.
Coria was beaten in last year's final by Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero - a shock first-round casualty this year - and looks more and more the man to beat this time around. The Argentine swept past Kiefer in 75 minutes. Coria has won his last 22 matches on clay and has only lost four games in his two rounds in Monte Carlo.
Spain's Carlos Moya, winner in 1998 and finalist in 2002, had the easiest task of the day. His opponent, Finn Jarkko Nieminen, pulled out with a broken right wrist and the fifth seed made it directly into the third round.
Former world number one Hewitt, the number 16 seed, had never won a match in the principality before this year's first round and found himself in deep trouble after losing the first set 6-1 to powerful Argetnine baseliner Gaudio.
However, the Australian, a former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion who has slipped to 19th in the rankings, rallied to pull off a trademark gutsy win against the world number 35.
Hewitt will next play either fourth seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany or France's Jean-Rene Lisnard. The 14th-seeded Dutchman Martin Verkerk, surprise French Open finalist last year, was knocked out by Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-2. Fabrice Santoro celebrated a record 14th year at the tournament, beating American Taylor Dent 6-3 6-2 to reach the third round.
Second Round results:
Juan Igancio Chela (ARG) bt Tommy Haas (GER) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) bt Alex Corretja (SPA) 6-2, 6-1; Alberto Martin (SPA) bt Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) 6-4, 6-2; Wayne Arthurs (AUS) bt Nicolas Devilder (FRA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Rainer Schuettler (GER) bt Jean-Rene Lisnard (FRA) 6-1, 6-2; Marat Safin (RUS) bt Max Mirnyi (BLR) 6-4, 6-3; Andrei Pavel (ROM) bt Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) 6-2, 6-0;
Agustin Calleri (ARG) bt Nicolas Escude (FRA) 6-2, 6-3; Tim Henman (GBR) bt David Sanchez (SPA) 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3; Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) bt Gaston Gaudio (ARG) 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1; David Nalbandian (ARG) bt Felix Mantilla (SPA) 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4); Carlos Moya (SPA) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) w/o; Nicolas Massu (CHI) bt Feliciano Lopez (SPA) 6-2, 6-4;Guillermo Coria (ARG) bt Nicolas Kiefer (GER) 6-0, 6-3;Fabrice Santoro (FRA) bt Taylor Dent (USA) 6-3, 6-2; Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) bt Martin Verkerk (NED x14) 6-3, 6-2. -Agencies
