Quanna stuns Ljubicic in Lyon

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:06

A first-round loser in his three other tournaments this year, which were all held on clay, Quanna survived a 24-ace assault from Ljubicic to take the match in two hours, 12 minutes.

The home-crowd favourite capitalised on his few opportunities against the world number 46, converting three of four break-point chances on the indoor carpet.

Up next for Quanna will be either sixth-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia or Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.

Another Frenchman, Michael Llodra, was not as fortunate on Monday, falling in straight sets to fifth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-4 6-3.

Robredo, the only seeded player in action Monday, needed only 63 minutes to oust Llodra. The world number 19 will face the winner of the all-French clash between Julien Benneteau and Arnaud Clement in the second round.

Top-seeded Andy Roddick will open play against France’s Nicolas Mahut later in the week. Roddick, who lost a three-setter to Gael Monfils in the round of 16 at last week’s Madrid Masters, is seeking his fourth singles title of the year.

The world number eight won at Beijing last month, ending a six-month victory drought. He had won at San Jose and Dubai early in the year.

Other winners Monday included Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero, who eliminated American Sam Querrey, 6-3 7-5.

Four of the top eight seeds are from France, including the respective number two, three and four, Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon.

Now get the WORLD’S BEST TENNIS MAGAZINE here