SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, April 5, 2017

The top half of the draw at the €64,000 Verrazzano Open was in second round action at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy on Wednesday, headlined by the tournament’s number one seed Benoit Paire.

The World No. 40 from France fought past Belgian qualifier Kimmer Coppejans, winning 6-1, 6-7, 6-4. Paire fired 16 aces and capitalized on 11 of his 14 break point chances to secure victory in two hours and 13 minutes. Next up for Paire will be Marton Fucsovics from Hungary, who knocked out the tournament’s number five Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Third favourite Guillermo Garcia-López of Spain emerged victorious from a topsy-turvey encounter with Czech wild card Lukas Rosol, winning 6-0, 5-7, 6-3. The 33-year-old from Albacete broke serve seven times and won 59 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 50 minutes.

Garcia-López will next take on Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia, who rallied past ATP NextGen star Duckhee Lee from Korea 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 15 minutes.