Stéphane Houdet is today’s hero at the French Riviera Open. Trailing 5-1 in the 3rd set to Dutchman Ruben Spaargaren, the Frenchman saved three match points to win 6-4 1-6 7-5. He will play Martin de la Puente in the quarter-finals after the Spaniard defeated young Briton Ben Bartram 6-1 6-1.

In the men’s singles, the other favourites, Gustavo Fernandez, Tokito Oda, Gordon Reid, Joachim Gérard and Alfie Hewett, won outright.

The semi-finalists in the women’s doubles are now known, with yesterday’s victories by the Chinese pair of Xioahui Li and Zhenzhen Zhu and the American Dana Mathewson paired with Japan’s Saki Takamuro.

Today, Diede De Groot and Aniek Van Koot got the better of Shiori Funamizu and Maayan Sikri. But No. 1 seeds KG Montjane and Yui Kamiji fell to China’s Luoyao Guo and Ziying Wang in a super tie-break.

In the men’s doubles, Stéphane Houdet and Takashi Sanada, Tom Egberink and Maikel Scheffers, Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda all booked their places in the semi-finals. As did the Dutch team of Ruben Spaargaren and Maarten Ter Hofte, who beat Martin de la Puente and Joachim Gérard in a thrilling final.