Marseille, France (SportsNetwork.com) - No. 3 seed Ernests Gulbis was a hard-fought second-round winner Thursday at the Open 13 indoor hardcourt tennis event.
The sweet-swinging Latvian launched 23 aces before outlasting rising Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in 2 hours, 15 minutes at Palais des Sports.
Next up for Gulbis will be French favorite Nicolas Mahut.
An upset came when German Jan-Lennard Struff took out seventh-seeded 2010 Marseille runner-up Julien Benneteau, of France, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
Also on Thursday, fifth-seeded Croat Ivan Dodig overcame German Tobias Kamke 6-7 (4-7), 6-0, 6-3, sixth-seeded Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin snuck past Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, and an eighth-seeded Mahut topped Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
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