After a month out with a knee injury, Rafael Nadal returned with a clash with compatriot Bautista-Agut. The second seed topped the opponent with 5 consecutive wins and quickly finished the first set with a score of 6-1.
The scenario remained unchanged in set 2, Nadal maintained the upper hand position, successfully saving all 5 break-points to repeat the score at 6-1. The owner of 11 Monte Carlo titles entered the third round after 74 minutes of competition.
Nadal reached 69 wins in the first Masters 1,000 on clay for the year. His winning streak at Monte Carlo has extended to 16. The last person to beat Nadal here was Novak Djokovic in the 2015 semi-finals.
"This is just the first clay match in nearly a year. However, I think I did well, a positive start. This result says it," the Spaniard shared.
The next obstacle for the "Squillots" will be Grigor Dimitrov. The Bulgarian tennis player defeated Jan-Lennard Struff after 2 sets with a score of 7-6, 6-4.
At Monte Carlo, Nadal defeated Dimitrov in the semi-finals last year and the quarter-finals in 2013. The head-to-head record in all competitions is also completely in favor of Rafa with a head-to-head score of 11-1.
In other developments, the No. 3 seed - Alexander Zverev defeated young talent Felix Auger Aliassime with a score of 2-0 (6-1, 6).
Holding Zverev to a draw, Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem headed straight ahead with victories over the underdogs Kukushkin and Martin Klizan.
