Casablanca, Apr 10: Benoit Paire rallied to beat Donald Young of the United States 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez downed Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the first round at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Monday.
Paire held on after being in trouble late in the second set, saving two break points in the 11th game and then trailing 4-2 in the tiebreaker. The Frenchman will play either Matthias Bachinger of Germany or Italy's Filippo Volandri.
Garcia-Lopez broke four times to beat Fognini for the first time on clay and level their head-to-head record at 2-2. The Italian had won both previous meetings on clay, including in the third round of the French Open last year.
The Spaniard will play either Paul-Henri Mathieu of France or Moroccan wild card Mehdi Ziadi.
Igor Andreev of Russia defeated Albert Montanes of Spain 6-3, 6-3 and will meet Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
