Monte Carlo, Charleston, and Barcelona: 1st and 2nd Rounds

The first two rounds are in the books for all three tournaments this week, including Barcelona since it will hold its finals on Saturday for some odd reason.  In this post I'll give you the seeds who have fallen (which isn't many in the two big tournaments) and note any of last year's quarterfinalists who failed to defend their points.

Monte Carlo

The first round saw of the departure of just one seed of the eight that were in action since the top eight received buys.  16) Baghdatis lost to Montanes 4 and 2, not a huge surprise given the clay court prowess of the Spaniard.

The second round saw a few more seeds drop out:
3) Murray to Kohlschreiber, 2 and 1; Murray manages to win just 3 games against the world no. 33, what is going on with him?  **Fails to defend semi**
7) Youzhny to Nalbandian, 7-5 in the 3rd set tiebreak; This match was an absolute thriller;
14) Monaco to Berrer, 4 and 4; A little surprising given how well Monaco has played early this year;
15) Melzer to Petzschner, 7-6(4), 6-2; A good tournament for the Germans so far;

Also of note, defending quarterfinalist Andreas Beck, was the first round victim of Nalbandian, 3 and 1. The Argentine seems to be finding his game.

Charleston


In the first round two seeds were on the losing end of matches:
11) Razzano to lucky loser Adamczak, 6-2 in the 3rd; That makes quite a few early exits for the Frenchwoman; **Fails to defend quarterfinal**
15) Czink to Krajicek, 7-6(9), 6-3; **Fails to defend quarterfinal**

This tournament has been surprisingly kind to the seeds, only two more drop out in the second round, leaving 12 of the 16 still alive:
3) Azarenka retired in the 2nd set to 17-yr-old qualifier McHale; apparently a thigh injury for Azarenka, hopefully not too serious;
5) Bartoli retired in the 3rd to Peng; I haven't heard what happened to the French #1, **Fails to defend semi**;

Barcelona


Since this tournament is having its final on Saturday, the first two rounds are finished, and the quarterfinal field is set.

Quarterfinalists
1) Francesca Schiavone (ITA)
7) Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU)
Roberta Vinci (ITA)
Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP)

So more seeds have lost in Barcelona than either of other two tournaments even though they have twice as many seeds.
2) Rezai lost to defending champion Vinci, 3 and 4, in the first round; Tough draw for both players but Vinci comes out on top;
3) Martinez Sanchez lost a tough one to Parra Santonja in the second round, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5; **Fails to defend quarterfinal**
4) Kirilenko lost to Shvedova in the second round, 6-2 in the 3rd; Maria is failing to gain traction after her AO quarterfinal, **Fails to defend final**;
5) Cirstea to Benesova in the second round, 1 and 4; The Romanian #1 needs to get into forms to defend her French quarterfinal in a few weeks;
6) Dulko to Errani in the first round, 7-4 in 3rd set tiebreak; Dulko continues to be up and down;
8) Safarova to Kulikova in the first round, 6-3, 7-6(4); **Fails to defend quarterfinal**

Only three players remain from last year's quarterfinals:  champion Vinci and semifinalists Schiavone and Suarez Navarro.