Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer rushed into the third round at the Monte-Carlo Masters on Wednesday, with both posting quick opening victories.

Top seed Nadal, looking to recapture his Monte-Carlo crown after Novak Djokovic last year ended the Spaniard's eight-year reign, spent 72 minutes in smothering any upset hopes of Russian Teimuraz ­Gabashvili, who got off to a shock 3-1 lead before Spain's king of clay reeled him in for a 6-4, 6-1 success.

Federer, seeded fourth at a Masters 1,000 event that he has never won, delivered a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing to fellow veteran Radek Stepanek.

Federer's rout in 52 minutes was seven minutes longer than another easy victory by titleholder Djokovic a day earlier.

"I was able to get a lot of returns back into play," said Federer. "On clay, when you have the upper hand from the baseline, it's kind of hard to get out of it.

"I think that's how it was for Radek today. I had a good start to both sets, then I was solid on my own service games.

"The next thing you know, you're in the lead and you can hit freely. It was clearly a good match to start my clay-court campaign."

The Swiss will next face off for a quarterfinal spot on Thursday when he takes on ­Lukas Rosol.

The Czech booked his spot over Frenchman Michael ­Llodra 6-4, 6-4.

Federer improved to 14-2 over Stepanek, 35, whose last victory in the series came in Rome six years ago.

Federer, 32, swept the first set in 22 minutes and faced his only spot of bother as he saved a pair of break points in the sixth game of the second set.

The winner was aided by five Stepanek double faults, with Federer breaking four times.

The Swiss won an ATP Tour-leading 25th match of the season.

Nadal steadied after going down early against Gabashvili, with the Spaniard improving to 49-2 at the event. The top seed won six games in a row on his way to claiming the opening set and reaching 4-0 in the second.

A break by his opponent for 4-1 only delayed the inevitable, with Nadal getting the break straight back for 5-1 before ­taking the win on a first match point a game later.

Nadal will now line up against Andreas Seppi after the Italian defeated Pablo Andujar 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-4.

Canadian eighth seed ­Milos Raonic duplicated his best showing in the principality with a 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Chinese Taipei's Yen Lu-hsun.

Italian 10th seed Fabio ­Fognini beat Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.

Agencies - Global Times