Spain ready to reign on clay

The sight of a Spaniard lifting a clay-court trophy is nothing new- it is the favored surface of the majority of the country's players, and one R. Nadal scooped every major clay tournament last season in an unprecedented run of 22 matches unbeaten.

Nadal, the world number one and undisputed king of clay, has won 28 of his 43 career titles on the surface. Of Spain's next highest-ranked players, David Ferrer has won six of his 11 titles on clay and Fernando Verdasco three of five. Albert Montañés, Nicolás Almagro, Marcel Granollers, Guillermo García-López and Tommy Robredo have 25 titles between them with just one- the latter's 2007 triumph in Metz- on a court other than clay. The curious exception is Feliciano López, who has two hard-court titles and just one clay-court final to his name.

If God indeed molded the human race from clay, he reserved a special jar of the stuff for Spanish tennis. On Sunday, Pablo Andújar added his name to the roll of honor with his first Tour-level success in the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, an ATP 250 tournament. His 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Potito Starace, the fifth seed, lifted Andújar 17 ranking places to 52, just shy of joining the aforementioned players in the top 50. No country has more top-100 players than Spain, and few can match the Armada when the season is in its version of dry dock. It is far from inconceivable that Spain will clean-sweep the dusted red-brick courts this year.

Nadal heads the field at Monte Carlo this week as he seeks a seventh consecutive crown in the principality, and perhaps the greatest threat to his reign on clay this season, world number two Novak Djokovic, is absent. Ferrer, Verdasco and Almagro make up the rest of Spain's top-10 seeds and the latter was in action on Monday, defeating a below-par Montañés, who was beaten by Andújar in Casablanca on Saturday, 6-3, 6-3.

Robredo also progressed against Ivan Dodig, winning 6-4, 6-2, while Daniel Gimeno-Traver defeated Santiago Giraldo 7-6, 7-5.

Nadal will open against either Julien Benneteau or Jarkko Nieminen and may face García-López in the third round. Robredo will face a second-round match against Verdasco. Given a bye and in the same quarter of the draw, Ferrer may open against López if the latter sees off Janko Tipsarevic.