Ricardas Berankis and Quentin Halys, respectively top and second seed, won their first match with authority for their start in the tournament. Lithuanian player (ranked 87th) seemed to go to an easy victory over French Français (ranked 283th), 6-0, 5-3, before suddenly collapsing at the end of the second set, 5-7. Mentally strong, Berankis eventually resisted to his opponent, and concluded in the final set 6-1.
At the end of the afternoon, Quentin Halys (115e), winner of Pau Challenger in end February, did the job against Bosnian Mirza Basic (ranked 220th): 6-1, 6-2 in 51 minutes. A few hours earlier, Grégoire Barrère logically took the best over Italian Andrea Arnaboldi (ranked 242th): 6-3, 6-1.
Following and end of the first round this Wednesday with young French guns on the courts : Arthur Fils (17 years, ranked 479th), qualifier, against Roman Safiullin (ranked 143th), who outlast Stefanos Tsitsipas two months ago in Marseille (ATP 250), and Sean Cuenin (18 years, ranked 826th, wild-card) opposed to Italian Luca Nardi (ranked 297th).
Blockbuster of the day, a second round single match, will oppose Zizou Bergs (ranked 186th) to French Laurent Lokoli (ranked 330th), who delighted the public during his first round on Tuesday against Belgium Simon Beaupain. To be also noted the beginning of Dutch Robin Haase (former ranked 33rd, currently 263th) against Ukrainian Illya Marchenko (ranked 252th).
