Second seed Rafael Nadal, former World No. 1 Marat Safin, No. 13 seed Sebastien Grosjean and France’s Fabrice Santoro make their 2006 Monte-Carlo debuts, as first-round action concludes Tuesday.

Two former champions will see action on Court de Princes Tuesday. Sixth-seeded Argentine Guillermo Coria, who won in 2004 (d. Schuettler), faces Russian Mikhail Youzhny. And Carlos Moya, who won in 1998 (d. Pioline) plays No. 12 seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.

All four singles matches on Court Central feature a French player. Seven Frenchmen play Tuesday, after a 1-2 start Monday.

Defending champion Nadal of Spain has a tough first-round opponent in France’s Arnaud Clement, who handed the World No. 2 one of his three losses this year in the semifinals of Marseille in February. In their previous meeting on clay, Nadal beat Clement in a Davis Cup semifinal match two years ago.

Nadal’s victory here last year (d. Coria) represented his first ATP Masters Series shield.He went on to win three more (Rome, Montreal and Madrid), tying Roger Federer for the most Masters Series titles in a year. Nadal, 19, has only played Monte-Carlo twice before. In 2003, he reached the third round (l. to Coria). His career record here is 8-1.

In his prior Masters Series events this year, Nadal reached the semifinals of Indian Wells (l. to Blake) and lost in the second round of Miami to fellow Mallorca native Carlos Moya.

Clement, 28, won his first ATP title since 2003 at Marseille in February (d. Ancic). He has a career record of 3-7 here, with his best showing a third-round finish in 2000 (l. to Hrbaty). In his other Masters Series events this year, Clement lost in the second round of Indian Wells to Tommy Haas and the second round in Miami to Roger Federer.

The Russian Safin takes on France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu. Safin won their last match, in the Davis Cup final four years ago on clay. Mathieu won their only ATP encounter – in Moscow four years ago.

Safin, 26, is still trying to recover his form, after sitting out from last August until February with a knee injury. Last week, the Russian had his best result of the year, reaching the semifinals in Valencia (l. to Almagro). Safin has a 9-6 record in Monte-Carlo, reaching the semifinals in 2004 (l. to Coria) and the quarterfinals in 2002 (l. to Moya).

Mathieu, 24, reached a career best INDESIT ATP Ranking of No. 34 in February, after his top showing of the year, a quarterfinal result in Marseille (l. to Nadal). He has a career record of 0-2 in Monte-Carlo, losing in the first round last year to Guillermo Coria.

Grosjean of France plays Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in their first ATP match.After first-round losses in his first two tournaments of the year, Grosjean has gone 11-4. In his other Masters Series events, he reached the fourth round of Indian Wells (l. to Nadal) and the third round of Miami (l. to Ferrer). Grosjean has a career record of 12-6
here, reaching the semifinals in 2001 (l. to Arazi) and 2002 (l. to Ferrero).

Verdasco, 22, climbed to a career best INDESIT ATP Ranking of No. 30 in January after a 35-28 record last year. His best result this year was a semifinal appearance last week in Valencia (l. to Simon). Verdasco has played here only once before, losing in the first round last year to Fernando Gonzalez.

Czech Tomas Berdych, seeded 16th, squares off against Santoro. They will be playing their first ATP match.

Berdych, 20, attained a career best ranking of No. 22 in January after winning the ATP Masters Series title in Paris in November last year. His best result in 2006 came in his first tournament: in January at Adelaide, where he reached the semifinals (l. to Malisse).

Santoro, 33, reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time at the Australian Open in January (l. to Nalbandian). He also made it to the quarterfinals at Marseille in February (l. to Clement). Santoro’s best showing here was the semifinals -- in 1997 (l. to Corretja). He has a 17-15 career record in Monte-Carlo.

Hometown resident Jean-Rene Lisnard, a wild card, plays Britain’s Andrew Murray on Court de Princes as well Tuesday. Monaco-born Benjamin Balleret, who qualified into his first ATP main draw, takes on Christophe Rochus in the first round. His father Bernard last played in Monte-Carlo in 1985, losing in the first round to Balazs Taroczy.