Carlos Berlocq and Mikhail Kukushkin advance to 2nd round at Grand Prix Hassan II

CASABLANCA, Morocco – Carlos Berlocq of Argentina hit nine aces as he rallied to beat fifth-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 on clay in the first round of the Grand Prix Hassan II on Monday.

Both players dropped serve four times. Berlocq advances to meet wild-card entry Nicolas Almagro of Spain or qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan, who play Tuesday.

Also, seventh-seeded Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin labored to a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 win against Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Kukushkin, who saved 12 of 14 break points, broke the Spaniard in the fourth game of the deciding set to take control and set up a second-round match against third-seeded Czech Jiri Vesely, who had a bye.

Later, Germany's Dustin Brown was playing Russian Andrey Kuznetsov, with the winner facing No. 2 Martin Klizan of Slovakia.