After Richard Gasquet’s victory earlier in the afternoon against Dominic Stricker, other Frenchmen were engaged on the Belgian courts.
Manuel Guinard, 158th player in the world, came out of the first round duel between “lucky losers” after defeating his compatriot Geoffrey Blancaneaux (157th) in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The two tricolors had benefited from the packages of Andy Murray and Arthur Rinderknech to fight their way into the final table despite their defeats in the second qualifying round.
Guinard, recent faller of Fabio Fognini at the Gijón tournament, will have a lot to do in the eighth against the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, seeded number two in the tournament and winner last weekend in Florence.
No bis repetita on the other hand for Constant Lestienne. After his semi-final at the beginning of the month in Tel Aviv, the French lost sharply to the Briton Daniel Evans (26th) with the score of 6-2, 6-1.