Frenchman Jeremy Chardy upset seventh seed Marcel Granollers 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 on Monday to start the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. The 29-year-old Chardy saved seven of nine break points against Granollers and now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-2.
Chardy is assured of meeting a fellow Frenchman in the second round, either Paul-Henri Mathieu or lucky loser Vincent Millot.
Dustin Brown, a semi-finalist a year ago, improved to 5-3 lifetime in Montpellier with a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The German's win booked a second-round showdown with top seed Marin Cilic.
[ALSO LIKE]
Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin have claimed the first ATP World Tour title of 2017. The Frenchmen dismissed third seeds Vasek Pospisil and Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-6(3) in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open doubles final on Friday to celebrate their first team doubles title. Their familarity with each other certainly paid off this week. Chardy and Martin have known each other since they were eight years old and have played together in the past, including last year at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. They reached the quarter-finals at both events. [ALSO LIKE] “We knew we could beat some good teams,” Martin said. “For me, especially to win with Jeremy, it's the best win I can...