UMAG, Croatia — Qualifier Kenny De Schepper upset another Frenchman, seventh-seeded Benoit Paire, to advance to the second round of the Croatia Open on Tuesday with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win.
Paire struggled with his serve, producing a total of 11 double faults, and was broken eight times by his 148th-ranked opponent.
Eighth-seeded Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic made the second round after a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Norbert Gombos of Slovakia.
In other first-round matches, last year’s finalist Andrej Martin of Slovakia beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-2, Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva eased past Marco Trungelliti of Argentina 6-1, 6-2, and Alessandro Giannessi of Italy overcame Australian Marc Polmans 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4.
Romania’s Radu Albot and Attila Balazs of Hungary also advanced.
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