Marseille, France (SportsNetwork.com) – Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut and
flashy French crowd favorite Gael Monfils were a pair of second-round winners
Wednesday at the Open 13 tennis event.
The fourth-seeded Bautista Agut defeated Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 6-4 in
the Day 3 nightcap, while the seventh-seeded former top-10 star Monfils mauled
Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-2 on the indoor surface at Marseille’s Palais
des Sports.
A pair of seeds notched first-round wins, as No. 5 Frenchman and 2007 champion
Gilles Simon was leading compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-5, 2-0 when the
qualifier Herbert retired and No. 6 Belgian David Goffin doused tall Pole
Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky outlasted German Jan-Lennard Struff
6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to land in the quarterfinals and Simone Bolelli cooled off hot
19-year-old fellow Italian Luca Vanni 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to reach the second
round. The teenager Vanni was a stunning finalist in Sao Paulo last week.
The second round will conclude on Thursday with five matches, including ones
for top seeds Milos Raonic, last week’s Rotterdam champion Stan Wawrinka and
reigning Marseille titlist Ernests Gulbis. Raonic will take on Bolelli.
Gulbis bested then reigning champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in last
year’s Open 13 final.
The 2015 Marseille champ will collect $117,000.
