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The Sports Network
Montpellier, France (Sports Network) - Fifth seed Feliciano Lopez and
seventh seed Philipp Kohlschreiber were a pair of first-round winners Tuesday
at the Open Sud de France tennis tournament.
The left-handed Spaniard Lopez hammered 19 aces and handled Russian Igor
Kunitsyn 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), while the German Kohlschreiber handled scrappy
Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-1, 6-4 on the indoor hardcourts at The Arena.
Another seeded victor was No. 8 Finn Jarkko Nieminen, who held off French
qualifier Maxime Teixeira 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 on Day 2.
Three unseeded Frenchmen moved on -- wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu, Nicolas
Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin -- as did American Michael Russell, who
topped France's Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-5. Russell will face another
Frenchman, third-seeded Gael Monfils, in the round of 16.
This week's top seeds are Czech slugger Tomas Berdych and French stars
Gilles Simon, Monfils and Richard Gasquet, all of whom received opening-
round byes. Monfils titled here two years ago.
The winner of this $518,000 tournament will collect $95,000.
The Sports Network