Marseille - Sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France has ground out a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory over big-serving Ante Pavic of Croatia in the first round of the Open 13 on Tuesday.
Pavic had 23 aces, compared to 13 for Roger-Vasselin, who saved seven of the nine break-point chances he faced. He next plays Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky after he rallied past qualifier Daniel Evans 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Meanwhile, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia had 12 aces as he comfortably beat Dutchman Igor Sijsling 6-4, 6-4.
Davydenko, who reached a career highest ranking of No. 3, next plays second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the defending champion. Tsonga leads 3-2 in their career head-to-heads.
Later, fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia was playing Albano Olivetti of France and Germany's Tobias Kamke faced Britain's Kyle Edmund.