Simon, Gicquel advance in Portugal tennis

ESTORIL, Portugal, April 14 (UPI) -- Fifth-seeded Gilles Simon of France scored a straight-set victory Monday in the first round of the Estoril Open tennis tournament in Portugal.

Simon outlasted Roko Karanusic of Croatia 7-5, 7-5.

Another French player, seventh-seeded Marc Gicquel, moved on with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Boris Pashanski of Serbia.

Portuguese wild card Frederico Gil upset France's Nicolas Mahut 6-0, 6-3. Mahut was seeded sixth.

Other first-round winners included Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili and Czech Ivo Minar.

The event's No. 1 seed is Roger Federer, who takes on Belgian Olivier Olivier Rochus in an opening-round match.

The tournament winner will collect $93,000.