Local favorite No. 15 seed Ugo Humbert was made to work hard to beat Brandon Nakashima of the U.S. 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to advance to the second round at the Paris Masters in Paris on Monday. Humbert saved two break points in the decider, extending his unbeaten record against Nakashima to 3-0.

Two Chinese players, Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng, lost in the men’s singles first round at the tournament.

Zhang was beaten by Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 6-3, 7-6 (6) in their second meeting. Though Zhang had a 2-0 start after breaking and holding in the first set, Etcheverry launched quick and sharp counterstrokes, clinching six of the following seven games to take the set and lead 1-0 in the match.

The second set was much closer as both managed to hold their first six service games, dragging the battle into a tiebreak. When Etcheverry led 6-4 in the tiebreak, Zhang saved two match points, but was outlasted in the end, suffering his sixth straight singles loss.

Shang was knocked out by Marcos Giron of the U.S. after two tiebreaks 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6). It was their first meeting and both entered the tournament as qualifiers. Neither could convert a break point in the first set which reached 6-6. Shang led 3-0 and 5-2 in the tiebreak, but made a series of mistakes, blowing his advantage and conceding the set.

The two both scored a break and tied at 3-3 in the second set. Shang had the chance to break again, but he missed it. Giron began the second tiebreak with a 3-0 lead, but Shang fought with great resilience to tie the battle 6-6. Nonetheless, his errors at the end cost him the match and delivered the victory to Giron.

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