All three seeds in action on Day One in Lyon advanced in fine style, but the local Frenchmen were not as fortunate. Sixth seed
was the only winner among four Frenchmen in action as he took out countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6(3), 6-3 in first-round play.
"The surface proved faster than in Vienna and in Madrid and it suited me," Grosjean told reporters.
Mathieu who recently parted with his coach seems content to ride out the season on the sidelines.
"Since I dropped my coach, I feel better but the results are not that good anymore," Mathieu said. "I hope I'll get a wildcard for the Paris Masters Series (next week) because I don't feel like going through the qualifiers."
Earlier in the day, French wildcard
Thierry Ascione fell to fifth seed
Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-1 and Frenchman
Nicolas Mahut suffered a 7-6(5), 6-3 loss to German
Florian Mayer.
Meanwhile, eighth seed
Nicolas Almagro rallied from a set down to defeat France's
Oliver Marach 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 to claim his first win of the indoor season.
Top seed
Marcos Baghdatis, No. 2
Gaston Gaudio, No. 3
Dominik Hrbaty and No. 4
Richard Gasquet, who faces
Marat Safin, are all in action Tuesday.
