Carlos Berlocq of Argentina and Martin Klizan of Slovakia won three-setters to reach the second round of the Open de Nice on Tuesday.
Berlocq, who won the Portugal Open this month, broke for a 5-3 lead in the final set to overcome Julien Benneteau of France 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, while Klizan rallied past Bernard Tomic of Australia 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Tomic slammed 11 aces, but dropped serve in the final game against Klizan, who won the BMW Open this month in Germany.
Photo: AFP
Robin Haase of the Netherlands, Dominic Thiem of Austria and US qualifier Jack Sock also advanced.
Haase did not face a break point in his 6-3, 6-2 win over Filippo Volandri of Italy, Thiem outlasted Steve Johnson of the US 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, and Sock saved all five break points he faced in his 6-4, 6-2 win over Kenny de Schepper of France.
Third-seeded Gael Monfils of France pulled out from the singles’ main draw after feeling pain in his right ankle in a doubles match. Monfils and compatriot Benoit Paire lost 6-4, 6-7 (3/2), 10-2 to Daniele Bracciali of Italy and Oliver Marach of Austria on Tuesday. The facetious Monfils shot and posted a video of himself and Paire on Instagram during a changeover. Sam Querrey of the US replaced Monfils in the main draw as a lucky loser.
Duesseldorf Open
AP, DUESSELDORF, Germany
Defending champion Juan Monaco eased past Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1 to reach the second round of the ATP Duesseldorf Open in Germany on Tuesday.
However, last year’s runner-up Jarkko Nieminen crashed out, despite winning the first set against Denis Istomin.
Istomin fired 10 aces and won 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2 to even his career record against Nieminen at 3-3.
A former top 10 player, Monaco has struggled with a right-wrist injury and has fallen to No. 54.
However, he easily disposed of Becker, who is not comfortable on clay.
Monaco says that as defending champion in Duesseldorf he feels “comfortable here, everything is familiar.”
Also in Duesseldorf, Mate Delic defeated Michal Przysiezny 7-5, 7-5 and Nikolay Davydenko beat Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-1.
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