‘s-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands (AP) — Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain overcame a shaky performance to beat Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and reach the second round at the Topshelf Open on Tuesday.
In the women’s tournament, French Open runner-up and top-seeded Simona Halep beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 7-5, 6-2.
Verdasco, the highest seeded man after countryman David Ferrer pulled out of the grass-court warmup for Wimbledon, served 13 aces but also had 15 double-faults.
After a poor first set he broke Mathieu early in the second. In the third, Verdasco saved two break points in his first service game and then broke Mathieu in the fifth game with a crosscourt backhand return.
Halep broke for a 6-5 lead in the first set, and then again in the first game of the second set. She will face Annika Beck of Germany in the second round.
The No. 2 and No. 3-seeded women were both eliminated, with Yaroslava Shvedova upsetting Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and Vania King of the United States ousting Eugenie Bouchard 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
In the men’s tournament, third-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-1, 6-3 and Nicolas Mahut overcame Kimmer Coppejans 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
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