Play continued at the Open Sud de France as the first round wrapped up and the second round began at the latest stop on the ATP World Tour.
Second seed David Goffin, sixth seed Ugo Humbert and seventh seed Lorenzo Sonego all moved on while fifth seed Jannik Sinner was upset.
Goffin, Sonego set up quarterfinal meeting; Humbert survives
Goffin rallied from a set down to outlast wild card Benjamin Bonzi 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 in their second-round match after two hours, 33 minutes of play. The Belgian stopped a three-match losing streak, breaking the Frenchman six times and saving 14 of the 19 break points he faced.
"This is what I needed, a fight like this to finish with the win no matter what", he said in his on-court interview after the match. "I was fighting from the start until the end i'm happy that I finally won a good fight."
His quarterfinal opponent will be Sonego as the Italian cruised past Sebastian Korda 6-3, 6-2. The seventh seed was opportunistic, converting three of five break points to claim victory in one hour, 14 minutes.
Humbert went the distance against Dutch qualifier Tallon Griekspoor as the Frenchman emerged with a 6-7 (4), 7-4 (5), 7-6 (5) victory after two hours, 50 minutes of play. The sixth seed saved three match points in the second set on his way to the quarterfinals.
"I thought about the match with (Nick) Kyrgios where I had two match points", he said. "I told myself 'you can do it'. I'm super happy for that. It was tough today. He (Griekspoor) played at a great level.
"I tried to stay combative. It was tough. [We played] three tie-breaks and I am super happy to win this match."
Sinner ousted by Bedene; Barrere, Davidovich Fokina move on
Elsewhere, fifth seed Sinner was eliminated by Aljaz Bedene 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) as the Slovenian recorded 14 aces over the two hour, 39 minute contest to improve his record against the Italian to 2-1.
"In the first set, [Sinner] was the better player.....afterwards, I became more aggressive and was making less mistakes", he said. "On the important points, I was there. I didn't lose my focus."
In another long match, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina won the all-Spanish clash over qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2, breaking six times over two hours, 31 minutes of play.
Finally, Gregoire Barrere won 65 percent of his second serve return points (20 of 31) to post a 6-4, 6-4 upset over Nikoloz Basilashvili. The Frenchman is the third qualifier to win his first-round match.