Rochus upsets Simon at Open 13

Olivier Rochus of Belgium upset former winner and fifth-seeded Gilles Simon of France 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the Open 13 on Tuesday.

Simon, who was playing his first match this season after being sidelined with a right knee injury since last November, struggled on his serve, with only 47 percent of first serves into play, and was broken five times.

"I was not expecting too much for my first tournament," said Simon. "I struggled both physically and mentally."

Rochus earned his 200th career match win and will try to reach his first quarterfinal this year against lucky loser Illya Marchenko of Ukraine, who beat Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Former finalist Michael Llodra rallied to beat fellow Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Llodra, who lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last year in an all-French final, served 17 aces and broke qualifier Roger-Vasselin three times.

Llodra won only his second match this season and will play seventh-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the second round of the indoor hardcourt tournament.

Eighth-seeded Julien Benneteau of France reached the second round with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) win over Swiss qualifier Stephane Bohli while lucky loser Josselin Ouanna defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

"I served well from the beginning and that's a good thing," Benneteau said. "But I didn't play well. My attitude on the court was however great and I finally went through."

Frenchman Ouanna was a late replacement for Belgian Christophe Rochus, who withdrew from the tournament with a back injury. Ouanna will next face Tsonga.

Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine also advanced, beating Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and will take on top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden in the next round.

Stakhovsky saved five of the seven break points he faced and served 15 aces.

Andreas Seppi of Italy beat Arnaud Clement 7-6 (5), 7-5 in two hours and will face another Frenchman in the second round, the third-seeded Gael Monfils.