LYON, France -- Argentine Mariano Puerta may have
reached the final of the French Open, but he could not escape
the first round of the Lyon Tennis Grand Prix.
The second-seeded Puerta was bounced by Belgian Olivier Rochus,
4-6, 7-5, 6-3, on Tuesday at the $813,000 indoor carpet event.
"I'm not disappointed as I think I played a good match today. I
just came up against a really good player," Puerta said. "The
tournament here is really strong and there are lots of tough
first-round opponents. He plays well on this kind of surface.
But I'm happy with my level on this surface and it gives me
confidence for the future."
Rochus next will face Serbian Novak Djokovic, who posted a
first-round win Monday.
"I played one of my best career matches today," Rochus said. "I
served extremely well. I won 80 percent of the points on my
first serve and served 16 aces. That never happened to me
before."
Also upset was No. 6 David Ferrer or Spain, who was felled by
French qualifier Marc Gicquel, 6-4, 6-0. Gicquel will meet
either Italian Davide Sanguinetti or Spaniard Feliciano Lopez of
Spain in the second round.
Top-seeded American Andy Roddick moved on with a 7-5, 6-3
victory -- the 300th of his career -- over French wild card
Thierry Ascione. Roddick will meet a Frenchman in the second
round, either Julien Benneteau or qualifier Nicolas Mahut.
Roddick became the second-fastest active player to reach 300
wins, needing just 393 matches. Lleyton Hewitt accomplished the
feat last year in only 392 matches.
Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean rallied past Romanian Victor
Hanescu, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and will face either No. 5 Tommy Robredo
of Spain or Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.
Thomas Enqvist of Sweden beat fellow qualifier Gregory Carraz of
France, 6-1, 6-4, to set up a second-round encounter with No. 7
Mario Ancic of Croatia.
Robin Soderling of Sweden won the event last year but is not
entered.
The runner-up here in 2004, Belgian Xavier Malisse was meeting
French wild card Michael Llodra in the first round.