MARSEILLE, France — Third-seeded Lucas Pouille advanced to the Open 13 quarterfinals after rallying from a set and 3-0 down to beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 on Wednesday.
He withstood 15 aces from Herbert, with both French players dropping serve twice. Pouille, who recently won the Open Sud de France in Montpellier for a fifth career title, made the crucial beak in the ninth game of the deciding set and then served out the match. He next faces either countryman Gilles Simon or Serbia’s Filip Krajinovic.
There was an upset in Wednesday’s other second-round match as 36-year-old Frenchman Julien Benneteau won 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) against fifth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
Second-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland and fourth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdcyh will play their second-round matches on Thursday.
In other first-round matches, No. 6 Gilles Muller of Luxembourg had 15 aces in a 7-5, 6-3 win against Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky; Mischa Zverev of Germany beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-4, 6-4, and French veteran Nicolas Mahut won 7-5, 7-6 (4) against 19-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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