Lopez progresses in Montpellier

Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez led a trio of seeds through to the second round of the Sud de France Open in Montpellier with a straight-sets win over Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn.

Fifth seed Lopez took one hour and 37 minutes to dispatch his opponent 6-4 7-6 (9-7), while seventh seed Philipp Kohlschreiber and eighth seed Jarkko Nieminen scored win over Olivier Rochus and Maxime Teixeira respectively.

French wild-card Paul-Henri Mathieu delighted the local fans with a 6-4 6-4 win over Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe while Nicolas Mahut, Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Florent Serra were other French winners.

Two more Frenchmen bowed out with Adrian Mannarino beaten 6-3 7-5 by American Michael Russell, and Marc Gicquel falling 1-6 6-4 7-5 to Flavio Cipolla in a match stretching over two hours.