Richard Gasquet got his quest for a fifth Open Sud de France title off to a strong start as he defeated compatriot Gilles Simon 6-4 6-4 in Montpellier, but three seeds and Aussie Alexei Popyrin all struggled.
Gasquet – three times a champion in Montpellier and once in Lyon – needed just 87 minutes to overcome Simon in his first-round match on Wednesday and set up a last-16 tie against Feliciano Lopez, who beat eighth seed Ugo Humbert.
The other first-round match saw Adrian Mannarino defeat Alexei Popyrin and progress to face top seed Gael Monfils.
In a bizarre match, Mannarino took just 21 minutes to take the first set 6-0 over Popyrin, before the Australian world number 97 fought back to win a tiebreak in the second.
Mannarino then strolled to the win taking the third set to love for a 6-0 6-7(7) 6-0 victory.
Two last-16 matches also took place, with world number 23 Grigor Dimitrov, who entered as a wildcard and was seeded fourth, going down 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5 to Gregoire Barrere.
Third seed Denis Shapovalov also suffered a quick exit as he lost to Vasek Pospisil 6-2 6-3.
Brilliant from Barrere!
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 5, 2020
@GregBarrere stuns Dimitrov 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 to advance at the @OpenSuddeFrance #OSDF20 pic.twitter.com/VN4OXsYFod
Meanwhile, at the Pune Open, second seed Ricardas Berankis saved two set points as he rallied to defeat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 7-6 (7-2) 6-1.
World number 73 Berankis will go up against Yuichi Sugita, who progressed without playing after Viktor Troicki withdrew due to fever, in the quarter-finals. Jiri Vesely and Ilya Ivashka also progressed.
