Mon Apr 14 15:04:36 2008

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Simon, Gicquel advance in Estoril

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Estoril, Portugal (Sports Network) - French seeds Gilles Simon and Marc Gicquel were among Monday's first-round victors at the $585,000 Estoril Open.

The fifth-seeded Simon got past Croat Roko Karanusic 7-5, 7-5, while the No. 7 seed Gicquel grounded Serbian Boris Pashanski 6-4, 6-3 on the red clay at Estadio Nacional.

An upset came when Portuguese wild card Frederico Gil took out sixth-seeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-0, 6-3.

In other opening-round play, Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili topped German Florian Mayer 7-5, 7-5 and Czech Ivo Minar dismissed Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello 7-5, 6-1.

This week's top seeds are reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open titlist Roger Federer and Miami champion Nikolay Davydenko. The world No. 1 Federer will open his stay here against pesky Belgian Olivier Rochus. Davydenko titled here in 2003.

Serbian Novak Djokovic defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet in last year's finale here, but neither player is entered here this year.

The 2008 Estoril champion will claim $93,600.