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Federer extends winning streak

Roger Federer won his 24th straight match on Wednesday, beating clay-court player Albert Montanes of Spain 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

The Swiss star is 34-1 this year and has not lost a match since Marat Safin beat him in the Australian Open semifinals.

On Wednesday, Federer broke Montanes three times in the second set to lead 5-1 before the Spaniard rallied back to 5-4. The four-time Grand Slam champion closed out the match after wrong-footing Montanes on a passing shot.

"It was a good test for me, against a real clay-court player," Federer said. "Montanes plays much further back and we had some good rallies. The better players and the better matches are starting to come now."

Federer is looking to win his third straight Masters title, and is also getting ready for the French Open, the only Grand Slam title he has not won.

Federer will face Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who beat Mario Ancic of Croatia 6-2, 7-6 (4), in the next round. It will be the third time Federer will play Gonzalez in the Masters series, having won in Hamburg and Indian Wells last year.

"Gonzalez can beat anyone on clay on any given day," Federer said.

Safin also advanced to third round, downing Cyril Saulnier of France 6-3, 6-1. The Russian will next play two-time champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.

"I don't care [about facing Ferrero]," said Safin, who is 4-3 against the former French Open champion. "I have other problems to think about."

Ferrero, who was sick and injured for much of last season, is 2-2 with Safin on clay.

"This is a good test. Marat plays really good on clay," Ferrero said. "I've watched him here a few times and he looks very strong. But I think I'm playing good tennis."

Earlier, defending champion Guillermo Coria of Argentina easily beat Thierry Ascione 6-2, 6-1, and Ferrero topped No. 16 Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

"The result seems easy because Ascione didn't play his best tennis," Coria said. "I believe he was nervous. I don't know what happened to him."

Coria's drop shots kept Ascione scampering around the court.

"I absolutely do not enjoy making my opponent seem ridiculous," Coria said. "But if I believe a drop shot is the right shot to play, I play it."

Also, Alberto Martin of Spain beat Jean-Rene Lisnard of France 6-1, 6-2; 18-year-old Rafael Nadal dominated Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-0, 6-3; Richard Gasquet of France overcame Felix Mantilla 7-5, 6-1; No. 10 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat Albert Costa of Spain 7-6 (2), 6-3; and Gaston Gaudio of Argentina was leading Nicolas Kiefer 7-5, 5-2 when the German retired.

Nadal, who is considered to be one of the top players on clay, dropped only nine points against Malisse in the first set.

"I was a lot more aggressive today," Nadal said. "I think he saw it was going to be a difficult match and it was tough for him."
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