Algerian qualifier Lamine Ouahab upset sixth-seeded Robin Haase 6-3 6-2 in the first round at the Grand Prix Hassan tennis event on Tuesday in Morocco.
Ouahab, ranked 752 in the world, had not won a tour-level match in four years. He broke the Dutchman’s serve twice in each set, winning in one hour to set up a second-round match against Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol of Spain.
Gutierrez-Ferrol broke five times as he downed Rui Machado of Portugal 6-2 6-1.
Earlier, Albert Ramos beat Pere Riba 6-2 6-3 in an all-Spanish match.
The seventh-seeded Ramos broke five times and will play Victor Hanescu of Romania, who led 6-2 3-0 against Malek Jaziri when the Tunisian retired.
Jeremy Chardy saved eight of nine break points to defeat Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-4 7-5. The Frenchman will meet top-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany.
Paul-Henri Mathieu of France broke five times en route to beating Mehdi Ziadi of Morocco 6-3 6-1, and Matthias Bachinger of Germany downed Italian veteran Filippo Volandri 6-3 3-6 6-3.
“It always feels good to come back to a place where you have won in the past,” said Mathieu, the 2007 champion. “I’m happy to be back in Casablanca after missing last year.”
Mathieu is continuing his comeback from a knee injury that sidelined him for more than a year.
“I haven’t set a ranking goal for this year,” he said. “I will have to wait a little bit and, hopefully, I will be consistent enough to move up in the rankings.”
Potito Starace and Flavio Cipolla also won their first-round matches.