Metz, France, September 25 : Top-seeded Gael Monfils reached the Open de Moselle quarter-finals by thrashing fellow Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-1, 6-1 on Thursday.
Following a first-round bye, Monfils fired 10 aces and broke Grosjean six times in their first matchup in three years.
Former world No. 4 Grosjean, a wild-card entry, underwent shoulder surgery last December and won his first match this week since 2008 Wimbledon. He had four break points in the very first game but was unable to convert them.
Monfils will next face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who upset eighth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Ljubicic, who beat Monfils in the 2005 final, fought for nearly two hours before losing to Tipsarevic for the first time.
Fourth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany beat wild card Michael Llodra of France 7-6 (3), 6-3 in their second-round match.
Llodra missed a set point at 5-4 in the first set, then Petzschner raced 5-2 ahead in the second before closing the match on his second match point.
Petzschner reached the Metz quarter-finals for the second time, having advanced to the last eight on his tournament debut in 2003.
—Agencies