STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Third seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden moved closer to defending his Stockholm Open title Thursday, defeating Cedric Pioline of France in the second round.
Johansson, who has played here seven straight years, captured both of his titles this year on grass, winning at Halle and Nottingham. On Thursday, he survived a tough match, posting a 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 victory.
However, second seed Sebastien Grosjean of France will not get his first tournament win of the year. Grosjean suffered a 6-3, 6-4 defeat at the hands of former world No. 1 Marcelo Rios of Chile.
Grosjean was a finalist at Marseille in February and reached the semifinals at the Australian and French Opens.
Rios improved to 3-1 lifetime against Grosjean. He also beat him in the quarterfinals at Hong Kong last month en route to his second title of the year.
Fifth seed Thomas Enqvist of Sweden knocked off 17-year-old countryman Robin Soderling, 7-5, 6-3.
Enqvist has won this event three times, capturing the crown in 1995, 1996 and 1999. He advanced to the semifinals two weeks ago in Vienna and the quarterfinals of last week's Tennis Masters Series event in Stuttgart.
Also Thursday, lucky loser Jan Vacek of the Czech Republic posted a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 triumph over Sweden's Magnus Gustafsson, who reached the final here in 1989 and 1999. Vacek advanced to a second-round encounter with Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden.
Sixth-seeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands defeated Australia's Wayne Arthurs, 6-4, 6-3.
