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Qualifier ousts Lopez at Sud de France

MONTPELLIER, France, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- French qualifier Guillaume Rufin Wednesday pulled off the first upset of second-round play at the Sud de France Open tennis tournament.

Rufin, No. 209 in the world, knocked off fifth-seeded and No. 15-ranked Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Rufin won a healthy 75 percent of the points on serve and lost his serve just once.

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He forced Lopez into nine break-point situations, finishing off three of them, including two in the second set.

The other three seeded players on Wednesday's schedule all advanced to the quarterfinals in straight sets.

Second-seeded Gilles Simon saved all four break points he faced in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Flavio Cipolla. Like Rufin, he also had three breaks with two coming in the second set.

No. 4-seeded Richard Gasquet topped Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4 without facing a break point and seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber kept the French players from sweeping the day's matches with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Kohlschreiber was able to finish all four of his break chances.

Simon draws Rufin and Gasquet advances to a match against Kohlschreiber in the next round.

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