Gasquet and Simon advance in Bucharest

BUCHAREST, Romania, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Top seeds Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon of France were among Tuesday's first-round winners at the $525,000 BCR Open Romania.

Gasquet defeated Spain's Oscar Hernandez 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Simon, the reigning Bucharest champion, defeated Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-1, 6-2. Simon beat Victor Hanescu of Bucharest in last year's final.

Three other seeds advanced Tuesday. Third-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro eliminated Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 7-5; sixth-seeded Carlos Moya beat fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4; and eighth-seeded Jose Acasuso ousted fellow Argentine Diego Junqueira 6-2, 6-4. Acasuso won in Bucharest in 2004.

Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili upset fifth-seeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. A match between fifth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and Spaniard Ivan Navarro was postponed until Wednesday because of darkness.