Metz, France, Sept 21: France's Nicolas Mahut and Belgium's Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus won their first-round matches at the Moselle Open on Tuesday.
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.
The 148th-ranked Sijsling never dropped serve and had 10 aces. Sijsling will play Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany or Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy of France.
Paire broke Golubev twice in each set, dropping his own serve only once in the match. He will face Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
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
