Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga led five Frenchmen into the Lyon Grand Prix quarterfinals on Thursday by beating Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-2.
Tsonga was joined by second-seeded Gilles Simon, former Lyon finalist Marc Gicquel, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra.
"This is a beautiful French campaign here in Lyon," Lldora said after ousting fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina. "We are not far away from the title. The French are playing well."
Tsonga, who also beat Rochus at Lyon two years ago, hit 13 aces and lost only 12 points on serve to down last week's Stockholm Open finalist in 64 minutes.
He will face Clement, who beat seventh-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 6-3.
Simon thrashed qualifier David Guez 6-1, 6-2 in 52 minutes in an all-French match.
Ranked 13th, Simon was an outside hope to qualify for next month's eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Gicquel upset fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-0. The sixth-seeded Mathieu, who was named ATP newcomer of the year in 2002 following his maiden win in Lyon, was hampered by cervical pains and lost his serve five times.
"It was almost the perfect match," said Gicquel, who will next play wild card Llodra. "I served very well and I was aggressive enough on important points. It's probably my best match so far this season."
Llodra, a doubles specialist, easily beat Monaco after converting two of five break opportunities. Llodra also served 11 aces.
Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic was the only non-French winner on the day, as the 2007 Lyon champion from Croatia beat Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Ljubicic served 27 aces in extending his perfect record against Kiefer to 4-0 and will be the only non-French player in the quarterfinals.
