Tough day for seeded players at Artois

LONDON, June 11 (UPI) -- Seeded players Jonas Bjorkman and Paul-Henri Mathieu each needed a third set Monday to take first-round wins at the Artois Championships in London.

Bjorkman, seeded 11th, was a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 winner over Justin Gimelstob while Mathieu defeated Feliciano Lopez, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, to move into the second round of the grass-court tournament.

Alejandro Falla upset 10th-seeded Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-4; Alex Bogdanovic beat No. 13 Lee Hyung-taik 7-5, 6-3; and Max Mirnyi stopped No. 16 Fernando Verdasco on Monday.

In other first-round matches, No. 14 Arnaud Clement topped Ivan Navarro Pastor 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 and 15th-seeded Robby Ginepri beat Richard Bloomfield 6-4, 6-2.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal, fresh off his French Open victory, is the tournament's top seed. Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt is seeded sixth.