Paul Henri-Mathieu became the next home casualty from Metz, following the exit of Kenny de Schepper yesterday. His encounter against Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller was serve dominant and break point chances were few and far between. At 5-5, Mathieu carved out two break points but will be unable to take one. The highly expected tiebreak would see the Frenchman drop serve on the vital seventh point of the tiebreak and Muller would grab the opportunity with open arms, winning the tiebreak 7-5.
The second set would be much of the same, with only one break opportunity in the whole set. It would be all Muller would need, breaking at 4-4. A straight forward love hold for a 7-6(5) 6-4 victory would see Muller earn a second round tie with Nikolay Davydenko.
Lucky loser Michael Berrer has moved into the second round after his opening match was cut short when opponent Jan Hajek retired with injury with the German leading 6-4 2-0. After breaking in the third game of the set, Berrer would hold his nerve to save five break points during the set to hold on. After a break in the first game of the second set and the subsequent hold to confirm the break, the Czech would retire with injury.
Berrer will face Jesse Levine in round two after the American saw off Cedrik Marcel-Stebe with an easy 6-3 6-2 victory. The German was broken three times in both sets and would hold serve just twice in the whole match. Levine had opportunities for bagels in both sets but 4-0 and 5-0 leads in the first and second sets respectively would be cut down. The German would never get close though and would meekly surrender his serve to love in the final game to confirm his exit.
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