Casablanca, Morocco – Sixth seed Robin Haase went by way of the upset, while seventh seed Albert Ramos was an easy opening-round winner Tuesday at the Grand Prix Hassan II tennis event.
Algerian qualifier Lamine Ouahab stunned the Dutch Haase 6-3, 6-2, while Ramos routed fellow Spaniard Pere Riba 6-2, 6-3 on the red clay at Complexe Sportif al Amal.
Former Casablanca champion Paul-Henri Mathieu advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 spanking of Moroccan wild card Mehdi Ziadi. The oft-injured Mathieu titled here in 2007.
Romanian Victor Hanescu, a Casablanca runner-up two years ago, was leading Malek Jaziri 6-2, 3-0 when the Tunisian retired, while France's Jeremy Chardy got past Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis 6-4, 7-5, and last year's runner-up Potito Starace dismissed Spanish qualifier Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4, 7-5. The Italian Starace lost to Spain's Pablo Andujar in last year's Casablanca finale.
Additional wins came for Spanish qualifier Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol, German Matthias Bachinger and Italian Flavio Cipolla.
This week's top seed, German Florian Mayer, will open his stay here against the capable Chardy.
The winner of this $522,000 tournament will collect $71,900.
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