METZ, France — France’s Nicolas Mahut and Belgium’s Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus won their first-round matches at the Moselle Open yesterday.
Mahut beat Diego Junqueira of Argentina 6-3, 6-2, the sixth-seeded Malisse outlasted Michael Berrer of Germany 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and Rochus cruised past Stephane Robert of France 6-1, 6-3. Rochus will play second-seeded Richard Gasquet.
Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling and French wild card Benoit Paire advanced in straight sets. Sijsling defeated Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-2, 6-2 in just 53 minutes, and Paire ousted Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-2.
French qualifiers Mathieu Rodrigues and Nicolas Renavand earned their first career wins in the main draw of an ATP Tour event.
Rodrigues beat Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, despite being ranked 219 spots lower than his opponent. He will take on top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The 364th-ranked Renavand upset No. 98 Tobias Kamke of Germany 7-5, 6-4. He will meet the fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic. /ap