Casablanca, Morocco – Seventh seed Albert Ramos was an easy opening-round winner Tuesday at the Grand Prix Hassan II tennis event.
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 also advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 spanking of Moroccan wild card Mehdi Ziadi. The oft-injured Mathieu titled here back 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.
Additional wins came for Spanish qualifier Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol, German Matthias Bachinger and Italian Flavio Cipolla.
Spain's Pablo Andujar, seeded third this week, topped Italian Potito Starace in last year's Casablanca finale.
The winner of this $522,000 tournament will collect $71,900.
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