Tommy Robredo's [ Images ] hopes of reaching the season-ending Masters Cup suffered a huge blow when the Spaniard lost 6-4, 7-6 to France's [ Images ] Marc Gicquel in the first round of the Lyon tournament on Monday.

Second seed Robredo, who is ninth in the ATP Race standings, lost the decisive tie break 7-5 and bowed out on the second match point. Gicquel next meets either compatriot Arnaud Clement [ Images ] or German Benjamin Becker.

Earlier on Monday, German Tommy Haas [ Images ], eighth in the ATP Race, pulled out of the tournament because of gastro-enteritis, handing Russia's [ Images ] Igor Andreev a place in the second round.

Haas has 329 points and leads Robredo by one point, with American James Blake [ Images ] a further point behind. Frenchman Richard Gasquet, 11th in the Race with 321 points, faces a qualifier in Lyon on Tuesday.

All candidates for Shanghai's Masters Cup will have a last chance to battle it out at next week's Paris Masters Series.

France had a bright day with Julien Benneteau [ Images ] and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga going through with victories over compatriot Edouard Roger-Vasselin [ Images ] and American Vince Spadea respectively.