Top seed
David Ferrer crashed out of the first round at Metz, falling to wildcard
Marc Gicquel 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours and one minute.
The late-blossoming 31-year-old Frenchman Gicquel is enjoying his best season to date, and will next face another Spaniard in Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, a 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-0 winner over Italian
Davide Sanguinetti.
Garcia-Lopez, a semifinalist at Delray Beach, also reached the quarterfinals at Bucharest, Estoril and Valencia.
Frenchman
Florent Serra also gave the locals reason to cheer, upsetting eighth-seeded Swede
Robin Soderling 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-2. Serra, who won the Adelaide title in the first week of the season, reached the Bucharest semifinals last month.
Also,
Daniele Bracciali advanced to the second round as he defeated
Philipp Kohlschreiber 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. The win was Bracciali's first since Amersfoort in July.
The final round of qualifying was also completed, with the final four completing the main draw in Clemens (GER), Stakhovsky (UKR), Saulnier (FRA), and Ascione (FRA).
