France's
Marc Gicquel knocked out third-seeded
Dominik Hrbaty 6-3, 6-3 in the second round Wednesday at Lyon.
Gicquel, who improves his ATP match record to 15-10, goes on to meet either
Sebastien Grosjean or
Cyril Saulnier.
With Hrbaty out, the Top 3 seeds at the event have been eliminated after No. 1
Marcos Baghdatis and No. 2
Gaston Gaudio were both upset victims.
Eighth-seeded
Nicolas Almagro advanced after defeating German
Florian Mayer 7-6(5), 6-4. No.5 seed
Robin Soderling also reached the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over
Nicolas Massu.
In first round play, American
Robby Ginepri needed five match points to overcome
Gilles Simon of France 7-6(3), 7-6(5), and
Michael Llodra defeated qualifier
Michal Mertinak 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2. Llodra was two points away from defeat in the second set and rallied from 3-1 down in the tiebreaker. It was only his third ATP singles win this season.
