Nadal beats Monaco in Davis Cup opener

Rafael Nadal unsurprisingly got Spain off to the perfect start in their Davis Cup final with Argentina in Seville yesterday.u00a0Nadal maintained his 100% record in the competition on clay with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Juan Monaco in the opening rubber.u00a0

The world No 2 needed just two hours and 27 minutes to give four-time champions Spain a 1-0 lead and claim his 19th win in 20 singles rubbers - his only loss coming against Czech Jiri Novak on his debut as a 17-year-old in 2004.

Nadal crashed out of the ATP World Tour finals in London in the group stages last week, but looked much more at home on his favourite red clay today.u00a0"It was a very very important victory for me and I played a really solid match," he told Sky Sports 4.