MONACO: Grand Slam winning trio Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka all looked in sublime form as they progressed to the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters with straight set victories on Wednesday.

The top-seeded claycourt machine Nadal, champion at eight of the last nine editions, recovered from a stuttering start to beat Russian qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-1.

Nadal, who lost the title to Novak Djokovic last year, dropped his opening service game and trailed 3-1 in the first set but even­tually pro­ved too much to handle for Gabashvili on centre court.

Eight-time French Open champion Nadal, who has a 49-2 record in Monte Carlo, next faces Andreas Seppi of Italy, who defeated Pablo Andujar 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-4.

Earlier, former world number one Federer, seeded fourth at a Masters event that he has never won, looked in top shape as he romped to a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of talented Czech veteran Radek Stepanek in 52 minutes.

The Swiss, who has a record 17 grand slam titles, will face another Czech, Lukas Rosol, who beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-4.

Federer lost in three straight finals to Nadal from 2006-08 and they can’t meet again until the final.

Australian Open champion Wawrinka, seeded third, was slightly faster than Federer, needing only 46 minutes to produce an awe-inspiring display in a 6-0, 6-2 drubbing of Croatian Marin Cilic.

Eighth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada was made to work to overcome South Korea’s Lu Yen-hsun 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-1 and equal his best showing in the tournament.

Tenth seed Fabio Fognini of Italy also advanced to the third round where he was joined by 11th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain and his compatriot Nicolas Almagro, seeded fourth places below him.

Fognini downed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, Robredo won 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 against Julien Benneteau of France and Almagro beat Nicolas Mahut, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Bulgarian 12th seed Grigor Dimitrov also made it through when he downed Spaniard Albert Ramos 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Grand Prix Hassan II winner Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat 17th-ranked Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1, 7-5 and Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta next faces defending champion Novak Djokovic after winning 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) against Gael Monfils.