Benneteau upsets Robredo, Soderling, Simon march on
23/10/2008 16:23
Frenchman Julien Benneteau reached the quarterfinals at the Lyon Grand
Prix for the second straight season after upsetting fifth-seeded Spaniard Tommy
Robredo 6-2, 6-2 in the second round yesterday. The 26-year-old Robredo, who
began the week at No. 18 in the ATP 2008 Race, dropped to a 35-22 match record
on the season. Swedish seventh seed Robin Soderling made a strong start to
his campaign, converting four of 11 break points and only surrendering eight
points on serve as he dismissed French qualifier Thierry Ascione 6-4,
6-1. The 24-year-old Soderling captured the Lyon title in 2004, with victory
over Xavier Malisse in the final, and has an 8-1 event record. In the second
round he will face Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus, who stared down 20 aces
from Gilles Muller before beating the Luxembourg native 6-2, 6-4 to record his
first win on the ATP circuit since reaching the Amersfoort quarterfinals in
July. Fourth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon booked his spot in the second
round with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Argentina's Juan MonaCo The 23 year old
is in strong contention for one of the three remaining berths at Tennis Masters
Cup Shanghai after rising to No. 9 in the ATP 2008 Race courtesy of a run to his
first ATP Masters Series final in Madrid last week. The Nice native has also
titled three times this season. World No. 56 Benneteau, who knocked out the
2000 champion Arnaud Clement in the first round, improved to a 7-6 event record.
The Geneva, Switzerland resident reached his maiden ATP singles final at
Casablanca in May. Paul-Henri Mathieu, the eighth seed from France, enjoyed
similarly smooth progress through to the second round as he knocked out
Argentina's Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-4. World No. 33 Mathieu captured the Lyon
title in 2002, the same year that saw him triumph as a qualifier in Moscow and,
at Long Island, became the last player to defeat 14-time Grand Slam champion
Pete Sampras. He next faces Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Xinhua
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