Gasquet starts strong in Montpellier but Dimitrov drops out
A three-time champion in Montpellier, Richard Gasquet defeated Gilles Simon in the Open Sud de France, but Grigor Dimitrov dropped out.
joie de Richard Gasquet (Fra)
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.
Brilliant from Barrere!
@GregBarrere stuns Dimitrov 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 to advance at the @OpenSuddeFrance #OSDF20 pic.twitter.com/VN4OXsYFod
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 5, 2020
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.
