Simon exits Shenzhen

Published February 05, 2015

Shenzhen, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Fifth seed Gilles Simon suffered a first-round upset Tuesday at the inaugural Shenzhen Open tennis event.

Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis dismissed the former top-10 Frenchman Simon 6-4, 6-2 on the hardcourts at Shenzhen Longgang Tennis Center.

Three other seeds avoided upsets on Day 2, as No. 6 Santiago Giraldo of Colombia overcame Chinese qualifier Bowen Ouyang 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, No. 7 Vasek Pospisil of Canada topped Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-4, and No. 8 Andreas Seppi of Italy doused Argentine Maximo Gonzalez 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

Also on Tuesday, Luxembourg's Gilles Muller beat Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Slovak Lukas Lacko handled Russian Evgeny Donskoy 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); Aussie Sam Groth edged out compatriot James Duckworth 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3; Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki downed Slovakian qualifier Martin Klizan 5-7, 6-1, 3-0, retired; and Aussie qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis erased Belarusian wild card Egor Gerasimov 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.

This week's top seeds are former French Open runner-up David Ferrer and two- time major champion Andy Murray. Ferrer will open up against Troicki on Thursday, while Murray will take on Indian Somdev Devvarman in the second round.

The first-ever Shenzhen titlist will earn $106,970.

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