No. 4 Simon, No. 7 Soderling, No. 8 Mathieu advance in France; Robredo upset

All three seeds playing first matches on Wednesday advanced to the second round with quality wins at the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon in France. Those winners were recent Masters Madrid finalist Gilles Simon, No. 7 seed Robin Soderling of Sweden and No. 8 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu of France.

Simon, seeded fourth in Lyon, fell behind early to Juan Monaco, but quickly recovered to defeat the Argentine, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, in just over two hours. The Nice native who owns titles this year at events in Bucharest, Casablanca and Indianapolis, fired eight aces past the Argentine, while breaking serve on four of nine opportunities. Simon, who cracked the Top 10 this week at No. 10 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the first time in his young career, earned his 46th victory of the season. Simon, who is hoping to gain more points in his fight for one of the final three available spots for the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, next faces Italian Andreas Seppi for a place in the quarterfinals.

Soderling easily dispatched French qualifier Thierry Ascione, 6-4, 6-1, behind a strong serving performance in which the Swede smashed 11 aces. The 24-year-old, who won the Lyon title in 2004, dropped only three points on his first serve and five points on his second serve. Improving his Lyon career record to 8-1, Soderling earned his 40th win of the year today. Soderling has not won a title in 2008, but has finished as runner-up on three occasions. Next up for Soderling is a second round match against qualifier Christophe Rochus of Belgium, a 6-2, 6-4, winner on Wednesday over US Open quarterfinalist Gilles Mueller of Luxembourg.

Mathieu, the 2002 Lyon champion, cruised to victory on Wednesday, beating Argentine Guillermo Canas, 6-3, 6-4. The World No. 33 only hit two aces compared to 10 aces by Canas, but the Frenchman was able to break serve three times, while Canas only broke serve once. Mathieu improves to 32-26 on the season, while the Argentine falls to 21-22. Next up for the Frenchman is former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.

In second round action, Frenchman Julien Benneteau (pictured) continued his winning ways, while wild card entrant Josselin Ouanna continued his magical tournament by winning his second consecutive match. Benneteau stunned No. 5 seed Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-2, 6-2, in 71 minutes. Since losing in the second round at the French Open in May, Benneteau had not won consecutive matches until today. This afternoon the Frenchman smashed seven aces, won 84 percent of first serve points and broke serve on four occasions. He will next meet either No. 2 seed Richard Gasquet or Steve Darcis.

Ouanna, a young rising French player, beat Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti in 87 minutes, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, to advance to his first career ATP level quarterfinal. The Frenchman was able to break serve both times he had the chance, most importantly in the final set. Ouanna who doesn’t even own a bio on the ATP Tour official website, improves to 2-3 on the season and will next face either No. 4 Simon or Seppi for a place in the semifinals.