MARSEILLE, France, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky bested countryman Illya Marchenko Monday in first-round play of the Open 13 tennis event at Marseille, France.
Stakhovsky prevailed over Marchenko 6-4, 6-3 in one of the day's two main draws, while Russian Dmitry Tursunov outlasted Bulgarian wild card Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) in the other.
Tursunov needed 2 hours, 40 minutes to overcome 17 aces from Dimitrov and advance on the indoor surface at the Palais des Sports.
The first-day winners will seek to crash last year's all-French final at Marseille, when Michael Llodra, seeded eighth this year, defeated Julien Benneteau.
Llodra and Benneteau are to face off Tuesday.
The top seeds at Open 13 are Swede Robin Soderling, fresh off a victory in last week's Rotterdam event, and world No. 7 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
