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Hanescu shocked on home turf in Bucharest

Victor Hanescu failed to take his chances © Getty Images

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Home favourite Victor Hanescu suffered a surprise defeat in the Bucharest Open on Tuesday, throwing away a dominant position to crash out in three sets.

Hanescu, ranked 52 in the world, had been expected to reach the latter stages of the tournament in his native Romania, but he suffered a 2-6 6-2 6-1 defeat to Marcel Granollers. The loss was even more unexpected after he blitzed the first set.

Breaking twice, sixth seed Hanescu cruised into the lead, but then Granollers' ability to convert break points made a telling difference. Both men created three break chances apiece in the second set, with the Spaniard converting two of his to level the contest.

Hanescu's serve improved throughout the match, but so did Granollers' ability to return, and he broke three times in the decisive set to progress to the second round after two hours on court.

Joining Granollers round two is No. 8 seed Jeremy Chardy, who had no problems seeing off countryman Guillaume Rufin. Chardy won 60 of 87 points in the match to triumph 6-0 6-2.

However, seventh seed Andreas Seppi failed to join Chardy in round two, losing 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4 to Adrian Ungur. Seppi, whose favoured surface is clay, actually won more points in the match than Ungur but could not press home his advantage at the crucial moments.

No. 5 seed Daniel Gimeno-Traver is alsoout after he lost a three-hour war with Carlos Berlocq. Like Hanescu, Gimeno-Traver took the first set before losing the next two to suffer a 4-6 7-5 7-6(4) defeat.

In the Open de Moselle, Xavier Malisse came through a tough first set to beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6(3) 6-4. Both men broke early before Malisse took the tiebreaker, and the Belgian was much more proactive when returning in the second set as he closed out the match.

No. 8 seed Gilles Simon was rather more comfortable in his match against Dustin Brown, whom Andy Murray beat during the US Open. Brown fired 14 aces in the match but Simon needed just one break in either set to advance 6-3 6-4.

Malisse and Simon will be joined in the second round by Paul-Henri Mathieu, who beat Adrian Mannarino 6-3 6-3. And Jarkko Nieminen came through a big-hitting clash with Benjamin Becker to win 6-3 7-6(2).

Other winners on Tuesday included Mischa Zverev and Philipp Kohlschreiber.

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