The Spaniard also converted 4 out of his 7 break points as compared to Pouille’s 0 and also won 75% of his service points. But the decisive stat proved to be the number of unforced errors, with the 28-year-old having just 5 as compared to his opponent’s 31.
Nadal has a stupendous 51-3 record at the Monte Carlo Masters and has won the title for 8 straight years between 2005 and 2012. His 46-match winning run was brought to an end in 2013, when current World No.1 Novak Djokovic beat him in the final in 2013 6-2, 7-6. The Mallorcan endured an even worse outing last year, when he was knocked out in the quarter-finals by David Ferrer 7-6, 6-4.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion already has a clay court title this season having won at Buenos Aires last month. He will either face 15th seed John Isner or Viktor Troicki in the third round.
In other results, seventh seed Stanislas Wawrinka also had an easy route to the next round, going past Juan Monaco 6-1, 6-4. 6th seed Tomas Berdych too won his match against Sergiy Stakhovsky of Russia 6-4, 7-6(2).
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