There were no upsets on the second day of main draw action at the Moselle Open in Metz, France. Six players booked spots in the next round.
Seeds Survive
The first seed to hit the courts in Metz was 7th seeded Adrian Mannarino. The lefty from France battled his countryman, Vincent Millot. Millot had made it through qualifying to get into the main draw. Mannarino controlled the match with his serve for a 6-2, 7-5 win. Mannarino used a solid first serve to win 80 percent of those points and broke Millot three times.
Sixth-seeded Martin Klizan faced a stern test from another Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu. It was the unseeded Mathieu who won a tense opening set 7-6 (1). In the second, Klizan came back from an early break down to break Mathieu twice to take the set 6-3. In the third, Mathieu began to show the effects of an injury. He was forced to retire from the match after falling behind 3-2. After the match, it was announced that Mathieu had struggled with an Achilles problem.
The final seed in action was the 8th seed Fernando Verdasco. He won a fantastic battle with Alexander Zverev 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-3. After struggling with his serve early, the Spaniard dominated the final two sets on serve as he won 28 of 32 first serve points and saved all six break points he faced in the final two sets.
Three Others Secure Second Round Spots
Vasek Pospisil led off the day with a straight sets win over Alexandr Nedovyesov. The Canadian showed little rust as he powered through the man from Kazakhstan 6-1, 7-5. Pospisil won an astounding 41 of 48 points on serve. In a battle of French qualifiers, it was Eduoard Roger-Vasselin showing better than Kenny De Schepper 6-4, 7-6 (2). Roger-Vasselin was another player who dominated with their first serve, winning 40 of 46 points. Qualifier Mischa Zverev was also a winner on the day with a 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-1 victory over Pablo Carreno Busta. Zverev pumped in 13 aces for the match.
Tsonga Leads Day Three Schedule
Third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga starts his Metz campaign on Wednesday against Mischa Zverev. Tsonga has won the title twice at the Moselle Open and made the finals three of the last four years. Fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber also sees his first action to start the day on Court Central against Australia's John Millman. That match is followed by Fernando Verdasco taking on Gilles Muller and then French wild card Pierre Hugues-Herbert against Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Tsonga match will follow that and then Nicolas Mahut finishes the night against Federico Delbonis to round out the singles schedule tomorrow on the main court.