Top-seeded Gilles Simon withdraws from Open de Nice

NICE, France (AP) — Top-seeded Gilles Simon of France withdrew from the Open de Nice on Wednesday, casting doubts on his French Open participation.

Simon, who retired from his second-round match in Rome this month, said the pain in his upper back was "too strong."

The French Open starts on Sunday.

The 13th-ranked Simon was set to face James Duckworth of Australia for a quarterfinal spot and will be replaced by French lucky loser Quentin Halys.

Fourth-seeded Leonardo Mayer advanced to the last-eight with a 6-4, 6-0 win over French wild-card entry Lucas Pouille to set up a meeting against Juan Monaco.

Dominic Thiem also progressed when sixth-seeded Nick Kyrgios retired with an elbow injury while trailing 4-3 in the first set.

"I expected a very tough match and I'm really sorry for Nick," Thiem said. "But I have to take it like this and of course I'm happy to be in the quarterfinals."

Next up for Thiem will be either defending champion Ernests Gulbis or Alexandr Dolgopolov.