Simon Pleases French Fans In Lyon

Fifth seed Gilles Simon gave the home French fans plenty to cheer about during his first-round win on Monday at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon.

The 32-year-old Frenchman saved seven of eight break points to overcome #NextGenATP Russian Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2 in two hours and 17 minutes. Simon will next meet British qualifier Kyle Edmund or Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.

#NextGenATP Korean Hyeon Chung will get a second FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against third seed Tomas Berdych. Chung was nearly perfect on serve during his 6-2, 6-3 win against American Donald Young.

Chung struck eight aces and dropped only one point on his first serve (30/31) during the 61-minute victory. The 21 year old lost to Berdych during their only prior FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, 2015 Miami.

Chung is currently in fourth place in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight 21-and-under players who will compete at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 7-11 November in Milan. The eighth player will be determined by wild card.

See Who’s Pushing Chung In Race To Milan

Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin set-up a second-round meeting against top seed Milos Raonic with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis. The 21-year-old Kokkinakis was playing in his first singles match of the season and only his second since October 2015. The right-hander endured right shoulder surgery last December before suffering an abdominal strain.