Written by
The Sports Network
Montpellier, France (Sports Network) - Top-seeded Tomas Berdych and Frenchman
Gael Monfils were among Thursday's second-round winners at the Open Sud de
France tennis tournament.
Berdych, the Czech Republic native ranked seventh in the world, routed French
qualifier Florent Serra 6-0, 6-2, dropping only 12 points on serve and saving
all three break points against him.
Monfils, the No. 3 seed, dispatched American Michael Russell 6-3, 6-3. The
world No. 13 fired 17 aces and won 84 percent of his first serves.
The top four seeds, including Berdych and Monfils, had received byes into the
second round on the indoor hardcourts at the Arena Montpellier.
Berdych, coming off an Australian Open performance that saw him reach his
fifth career Grand Slam quarter-final, will take on big-serving Nicolas Mauht
in Friday's quarterfinals. Mauht edged sixth-seeded German Florian Mayer
7-6 (7-3), 6-3 on Thursday.
Monfils, winner of this ATP World Tour 250 event when it was last contested in
2010, will face eighth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland on Friday. Nieminen
defeated French wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 on Thursday.
The remaining quarterfinal matches on Friday feature second-seeded Gilles
Simon against fellow Frenchman and wild card Guillaume Rufin, and fourth-
seeded slugger Richard Gasquet taking on seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The winner of this $518,000 tournament will collect $95,000.
The Sports Network