Gasquet starts strong in Montpellier but Dimitrov drops out

Montpellier, February 6: 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 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.

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.

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.