Safin rallies to reach Monte Carlo second round

MONTE CARLO, Apr 15 (Reuters) Former world number one Marat Safin recovered from a shaky start to reach the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters with a 5-7 6-3 6-2 victory over 15th seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland today.

The Russian will meet either Belgian Kristof Vliegen or France's Paul-Henri Mathieu, who he beat last weekend in the decisive singles to put Russia into the Davis Cup semi-finals.

After two exchanges of service breaks, Nieminen stole his opponent's serve in the 11th game to clinch the first set in 47 minutes on the principality's clay courts.

Safin hit back in the sixth game of the second set to open a 4-2 lead and then held serve to level the match.

The former US Open and Australian Open champion broke again in the first game of the decider and then saved two break points in the fourth and sixth games before breaking in the seventh to clinch victory in one hour and 53 minutes.

''After the first set, Safin lifted his game and he did not miss,'' said world number 20 Nieminen.

Earlier today, Frenchman Julien Benneteau, a French Open quarter-finalist last year, struggled through against Monaco's Benjamin Balleret 7-5 5-7 6-2.

''I had not played a match in the last three weeks and it was my first on clay this season, I needed to put some things together,'' Benneteau told reporters.

Arnaud Clement won an all-French clash against Florent Serra 6-4 7-6 to set up a possible second round meeting with fifth seed Tommy Robredo of Spain.

Serra saved two match points to force his compatriot into a tie break Clement won 7-5.

South Korean Lee Hyung-taik also reached the second round with a 7-6 6-1 defeat of Swede Jonas Bjorkman.

World number one Roger Federer and holder Rafael Nadal, who is on a record 62-match winning streak on clay, have byes into the second round and will not be in action until Tuesday.

REUTERS PDS RAI2337