Ljubicic beats Clement in Casablanca

CASABLANCA, Morocco, April 6 (UPI) -- Unseeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic beat eighth-seeded Arnaud Clement in three sets in Monday's opening-round play at the Grand Prix Hassan II.

Ljubicic defeated the Frenchman 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 6-4.

Two other seeds avoided upsets Monday when No. 4 Romanian Victor Hanescu defeated Belgian Steve Darcis 6-4, 7-5 and No. 5 Frenchman Florent Serra beat Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-3.

This week's top seed is Russian Igor Andreev. Last year's champion Gilles Simon, who is not playing this year, beat Julien Benneteau in last year's all-French finale.