No. 2 Simon, No. 3 Almagro eliminated in France

Second-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon and third-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro were sent packing on Tuesday in the first round of the Open de Moselle in Metz, France. With their loss, both players hurt their chances tremendously in gaining one of the final remaining Tennis Masters Cup spots that are still up for grabs.

In a battle of two Frenchman, wild card entrant Nicolas Mahut stunned Simon, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, to advance. A quarterfinalist last week at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, Mahut fired eight aces without having a double fault, while Simon hit three aces compared to three double faults. In the match that lasted a little over one and a half hours, Mahut was able to break serve on all three opportunities he had. Currently ranked No. 75 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Mahut won the final five games of the match, to earn his 16th victory of the season. The singles champion earlier this year in Indianapolis, Casablanca and most recently in Bucharest, Romania, Simon falls to 40-21 on the season.

Argentine Eduardo Schwank (pictured), who started the 2008 season ranked No. 171 but currently owns a career best No. 54 ranking, shocked Almagro, 7-6(5), 6-2, in 91 minutes. Currently coached by David Nalbandian’s father Javier, Schwank smashed ten aces, while winning 73 percent of his first serve points. He was also able to break serve on three of eleven chances. The 22-year-old Argentine improved his season record to 13-12, which includes reaching the semifinals at Stuttgart and also winning three ATP Challenger Series tournaments. Almagro, the singles champion earlier this year in Acapulco and Costa do Sauipe, drops to 35-16 on the year. Schwank will next face Romania Victor Hanescu in the second round, who defeated Ivan Ljubicic, 6-1, 7-6(4). His win this afternoon was his first career victory over the Croatian after five failed attempts dating back to their first meeting at the 2004 Masters Series Hamburg.

No. 1 seed Ivo Karlovic survived an early round scare, as Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis withdrew with a back injury after the third game of the second set. Baghdatis was leading 6-4, 1-2 at the time of his match ending injury. The 6’10” beast out of Zagreb, Croatia, next meets former Roland Garros champion Carlos Moya in the second round.

Other notable winners on Day Two included No. 4 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu of France and California based Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who is seeded No. 5 this week. Mathieu out slugged fellow Frenchman Nicolas Devilder, 6-0, 6-2, while Tursunov held off a great fight from qualifier Thierry Ascione to win, 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4. Mathieu next meets World No. 440 Romain Jouan, who won his first career match in his ATP level debut over Argentine Agustin Calleri. Tursunov will try to advance to the quarterfinals for the 4th time this year, as he meets Jose Acasuso in the second round.