RENNES, October 13, 2015

After top seed Robin Haase had lost his opening match at the € 85,000 ATP Challenger Open de Rennes on Monday, the tournament’s second favourite also crashed out. World number 67 Santiago Giraldo, who played his first ATP Challenger event since reaching the second round in Prostejov, lost to Vincent Millot 6-7, 2-6. The 29-year-old Frenchman smashed seven aces and saved the only break point he faced to prevail in one hour and 26 minutes. Millot will take on the winner of the encounter between Alexandre Sidorenko and Luca Vanni next.

The tournament’s number three Steve Darcis defeated German qualifier Jeremy Jahn, winning 7-5, 6-4. The world number 81 from Belgium won 71% of his first service points and capitalized on three of his eight break points to close the match in one hour and 23 minutes.

Fourth seed Malek Jaziri cruised past James Marsalek, winning 6-1, 6-2 in only 58 minutes to face Elias Ymer in the second round. The Swedish teenager beat David Guez 6-4, 6-4, winning 69% of his first service points in 70 minutes.

In a very close encounter Karen Khachanov set a second round clash with French wild card Maxime Teixeira, who knocked out Robin Haase on Monday, winning 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. The 19-year-old Russian fired 11 aces and converted three of his seven break points to seal victory in two hours and 11 minutes.