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The Sports Network
Marseille, France (Sports Network) - French crowd favorite Richard Gasquet
was an easy first-round winner Tuesday at the Open 13 tennis event.
The fifth-seeded Gasquet rolled past Japan's Go Soeda 6-0, 6-2 in 63 minutes
on the indoor hardcourts at Palais des Sports.
Meanwhile, former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko handled German Andreas Beck
6-1, 7-5 and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut topped wild card and fellow countryman
Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4. The former Australian Open runner-up Clement captured
this event in 2006 and was the Marseille runner-up in 1999.
Mahut's second-round opponent will be his top-seeded compatriot Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga, while the Russian Davydenko will encounter former U.S. Open champ and
last week's Rotterdam runner-up Juan Martin del Potro, this week's fourth
seed.
The former Aussie Open runner-up Tsonga was the Marseille titlist in 2009.
Additional Day-2 wins came for Belgian qualifier David Goffin, French
qualifier Albano Olivetti and Russian Igor Kunitsyn. Olivetti is rewarded with
a second-rounder against second-seeded American Mardy Fish.
The newest Marseille champ will collect $120,000.
The Sports Network