French qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Russian wild card Evgeny Donskoy in the first round of the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday.
The hard-fought 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory meant a first appearance in the second round of a tour event for the world No. 116 since June.
It also leaves only one Russian in the men's draw, with Alex Bogomolov Jr. facing Croatian veteran Ivo Karlovic in the second round.
The big server knocked out Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-4, 7-6(4) earlier in the day.
Earlier, third seed Viktor Troicki was ousted by world No. 112 Malek Jaziri 6-1, 3-6, 6-2,
Troicki, the 2010 champion, was the third seed to fall after Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic dumped out sixth seed Denis Istomin and Bogomolov took care of three-time champion Nikolay Davydenko.
Elsewhere, tournament newcomer Jerzy Janowicz beat world No. 80 Benjamin Becker of Germany 7-6(6), 6-3 and Flavio Cipolla of Italy completed a straight-sets win over Russian wild card Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-4.
The Polish 22-year-old will play seventh seed Carlos Berlocq of Argentina in the second round.
At the start of play, Japanese eighth seed Ito Tatsuma dispatched qualifier Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-3.
