Alexander Zverev sealed a 6-4 6-4 victory over Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut in the Monte Carlo Masters second round on Wednesday and will next face in-form Daniil Medvedev.

German 13th seed Zverev, who suffered a serious ankle injury in the French Open semi-finals last year, won his second match in his first appearance on the clay court this season. 

Zverev broke for 3-2 in the first set and held serve to take it before breaking again in the fifth game of the second set.

Bautista Agut, however, broke the German's serve to level at 3-3, only for Zverev to make the decisive break in the following game. 

Russian Medvedev, winner of four hardcourt titles this year, continued his excellent start to the season with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Italian Lorenzo Sonego. 

"I always struggle on clay," said third seed Medvedev. "I've had some good matches where I still struggled. There's no rhythm on clay, every bounce is a bad bounce and even when it's good you're expecting a bad bounce."

Casper Ruud, last year's French Open runner-up, continued his preparations for the claycourt Grand Slam by battling past Botic van de Zandschulp 7-5 7-6(1), avenging a three-set defeat by the Dutchman in Miami last month.

Ruud next plays Jan-Lennard Struff, who stunned 14th seed Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-2. Karen Khachanov also went through with a 7-6(2) 6-2 win over Ilya Ivashka and booked a showdown with Andrey Rublev, while eighth seed Taylor Fritz overcame Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka 7-6(10) 6-2.

They were joined by Lorenzo Musetti, who blanked Luca Nardi 6-0 6-0 to set up a clash with world No.1 Novak Djokovic.

Miami runner-up Jannik Sinner advanced after his doubles partner Diego Schwartzman retired with a shoulder injury trailing 6-0 3-1.

Danish teenager Holger Rune swept aside two-time French Open runner-up Dominic Thiem and next faces Matteo Berrettini, who had a hard-fought 5-7 7-6(1) 6-4 victory over Francisco Cerundolo. 

Chile's Nicolas Jarry will take on two-time defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas after outlasting Australia's Alexei Popyrin in three sets.

(With input from agencies)