Bangkok - Nicolas Mahut stunned fifth seed Jarkko Nieminen, sending the Finn flying out to his earliest career exit at the Thailand Open 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday.

The second-round ambush in one hour, 40 minutes put a third French player into the quarter-final after second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and number four Gael Monfils.

Nieminen was less than 24 hours off a crushing of teenaged Marko Djokovic, younger brother of top-seeded Novak Djokovic. He had reached two Bangkok semi-finals and a quarter-final.

Mahut, ranked 74th to the 33 of Nieminen, took an early 3-1 lead in the final set only to lose it a game later. But he moved into a winning position with a re-break for 5-3 and served out the win on his first match point.

Sixth seed Robin Soderling rolled to his second straight easy victory, hammering Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-3.

The Swede said that he is becoming acclimatised to the indoor surface at the Impact arena after playing last week in an exhibition in Vietnam.

"I only arrived on Sunday night and wasn't so ready for my first round, said Soderling, who is finally having some success after first-round exits at the Olympics and US Open.

"I played a lot better today than in my previous match. I've had some more time on the court and I'm getting used to it."

Philipp Petzschner continued his momentum after knocking out Marat Safin in the first-round as he defeated fellow German Mischa Zverev 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-1 in the second round.

Top seed Novak Djokovic was playing later as he opened in the second round after a bye, facing German Simon Stadler. (dpa)