Simon pulls out; Gulbis reaches Nice QFs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Nice, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Top-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon pulled out of the draw, while third-seeded defending champion Ernests Gulbis was a hard-fought second-round winner Wednesday at the Nice Open, a final clay-court French Open tune-up.
An injured Simon was scheduled to meet Aussie James Duckworth, but decided to withdraw. Duckworth then beat French lucky-loser Quentin Halys, making his ATP debut, 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-5).
The Latvian Gulbis, meanwhile, held off Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 on the red clay at Nice Lawn Tennis Club. It marked Gulbis' second match win of the year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Gulbis beat Argentine Federico Delbonis in last year's Nice finale.
In other action involving seeds, No. 4 Leonardo Mayer of Argentina leveled French wild card Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-0 and Austrian Dominic Thiem was leading No. 6 Nick Kyrgios 4-3 in the opening set when the Aussie retired.
Also on Day 4, rising Croat Borna Coric got past Italian qualifier Gianni Mina 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 and Serb Dusan Lajovic topped Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Thursday's quarterfinals will pit second-seeded American John Isner against Lajovic; Gulbis versus Thiem; Mayer against eighth-seeded fellow Argentine Juan Monaco; and Duckworth versus Coric.