Basilashvili beaten by Brands in Bulgaria

World number 22 Nikoloz Basilashvili suffered a first-round defeat to qualifier Daniel Brands at the Sofia Open in Bulgaria.

The Georgian number five seed lost in straight sets, 7-6 (9/7) 7-5, to the German, ranked 180 in the world, in Tuesday’s opening match on Centre Court.

Seventh seed Gael Monfils had little trouble as he saw off wild card Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-4 in the final match of the day.

Earlier, Yannick Maden progressed with a 6-4 7-6 (7/4) win over Adrian Mannarino of France, while German Jan-Lennard Struff beat Italian qualifier Stefano Travaglia 6-4 6-3 to set up a clash against Australian Open semi-finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Dutchman Robin Haase defeated wildcard Dimitar Kuzmanov 6-2 6-4 and will go on to face Russian number three seed Daniil Medvedev, the world number 16, in round two.

At the South of France Open in Montpellier, world number 44 Pierre-Hugues Herbert coasted into the second round with a straight-sets win over Denis Kudla.

The French number seven seed beat the American 6-2 6-1 in just under an hour of Tuesday’s late match on Court Patrice Dominguez.

Earlier, number eight seed Benoit Paire progressed with a 7-5 6-3 win over Evgeny Donskoy.

Czech Tomas Berdych came from behind to beat qualifier Matthias Bachinger 5-7 6-3 6-3, and will go on to face Paire in round two.

Serbian Filip Krajinovic progressed 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 against Nicolas Mahut to secure a second-round match against David Goffin, the number two seed.

Elsewhere, Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis defeated Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 7-6 (7/5) and qualifier Antoine Hoang beat Belgian Steve Darcis 6-1 6-2.

At the Cordoba Open in Argentina, world number 41 Nicolas Jarry suffered an unexpected first-round defeat against wildcard Juan Ignacio Londero.

The fifth seed from Chile lost 6-2 7-6 (7/5) to the home player, ranked 112 in the world.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Argentinian Federico Delbonis beat compatriot Leonardo Mayer, the seventh seed, 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-3.

Jaume Munar beat Guido Andreozzi 6-1 6-4 to set up a meeting with second seed Marco Cecchinato, the world number 19, while Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena and Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas were also first-round winners.

Italian Alessandro Giannessi came from behind to battle past Brazilian wildcard Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-7 (8/10) 7-5 7-6 (7/4) to secure a second-round match against third seed Diego Schwartzman.