French ninth seed Paul-Henri Mathieu was knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters on Monday, losing 6-4 2-6 6-3 to Serb Janko Tipsarevic. It was a bad day for French players with Fabrice Santoro also bowing out 7-6 6-1 against Kristov Vliegen.
The Belgian qualifier next takes on seventh seed Richard Gasquet, 11 months after beating the Frenchman in the French Open second round. Briton Andy Murray reached the second round with a comfortable 7-6 6-4 victory over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
The 14th seed next meets Italy's Filippo Volandri, who defeated Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-2 6-3, and faces a possible third-round encounter with world number three Novak Djokovic.
Murray, who won the Doha and Marseille tournaments earlier this year, played solid tennis throughout to outclass Lopez, whom he had already beaten in Washington two years ago on a hard surface. "I did not make too many mistakes. I could have returned a bit better, could have moved forward a bit better," Murray told reporters. "On clay, you've got to play more patiently, find the balance between when to go for your shots and when to move back.
"So I tried to keep the ball high and deep. I played solid that's all I had to do." Lopez saved a set point to force a tiebreak, which he lost 7-5 despite shrugging off two more set points. Murray cut loose in the second set, breaking his opponent in the first and seventh games.
Murray dropped serve in the eighth game but clinched victory on his second match point when Lopez netted a forehand. Spaniard Carlos Moya, who won the French Open 10 years ago, slumped to a 6-3 1-6 6-3 defeat at the hands of unheralded Sam Querrey of the United States.
The Spanish 10th seed was wiped out in one hour and 37 minutes by the 20-year-old Querrey, who won the Las Vegas tournament earlier this year. His compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero recovered from a shaky start to see off Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-7 6-1 6-1.
The former French Open champion, who won the tournament in 2002 and 2003, will battle it out for a third-round spot against either Finn Jarkko Nieminen or France's Marc Gicquel. Big serving Robin Soderling of Sweden wasted three match points in the second set before overcoming Czech Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-7 6-3.
Later on Monday, three-times French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten has a first-round date with Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic as he builds up for his Roland-Garros farewell.