Wednesday, April 19 2006 18:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Monte Carlo: Sleepy third seed David Nalbandian struggled through an early morning match, earning a 7-5, 7-5 win over Italian Andreas Seppi to reach the third round at the Monte Carlo Masters Wednesday (Apr 19, 2006).

But French 13th seed Sebastien Grosjean suffered a recurrence of the back injury which has bothered him recently, losing to Benjamin Balleret of Monaco as he quit trailing 4-6, 7-5, 3-2.

Germany's Nicolas Kiefer, seeded ninth, was untroubled by Frenchman Michael Llodra as he earned a 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 victory into the last 16 on the clay.

There was a resurgence of form for two-time Monte Carlo winner Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 11th-seeded Spaniard who has suffered over the last few seasons from a crisis of confidence on his preferred surface.

But the 2003 Roland Garros champion imposed his game without hesitation on Argentine Juan Chela 6-1, 6-2 in a second-round runaway.

A winner by 15th-seeded compatriot

He was joined as a winner by 15th-seeded compatriot Tommy Robredo, who defeated Belgian Olivier Rochus 7-5, 6-4.

Argentina's NalbAndian had little good to say about his 10 a.m. start: "It's ridiculous to play at this time." But he added: "I want to try to win a tournament.

"I know that I can play good on clay, I have to keep going, try to get more confidence every match that I play.

"I didn't play lot of matches after Paris last year, Roland Garros, so I didn't play many tournaments on clay, so that's tough in the beginning. "But I feel that I can play better."

Of the 16 matches on court, 14 featured seeds, with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal leading the program.