Tsonga powers on in Cincinnati
Tsonga powers on in Cincinnati
World No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continued his good form by beating Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-3 6-4 in the first round at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Tsonga is causing some waves on the Tour right now and he must be worth a bet at least making the US Open final in two weeks time. In Montréal last week the Frenchman reached the semi-finals where he had to retire due to a sore arm against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Tsonga took out Roger Federer and Nicolas Almagro on the way to the semi-finals last week. Tsonga’s second round opponent will be Alex Bogomolov Jr, who had a two set win over American wildcard Robby Ginepri.
The number ten seed Gilles Simon of France is through to the second round after defeating Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (3) 6-3 7-5. Simon will face Janko Tipsarevic struggled home against qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-0 3-6 7-6 (5). The winner of Tipsarevic and Simon could have a possible match up with David Ferrer in the third round.
Michael Llodra caused a bit of an upset when he took out World No. 17 Mikhail Youzhny in the first round. The slightly crazy Frenchman won 7-5 3-6 7-6 (4). Llodra and Youzhny played each other last week in Montréal and that match also finished with Llodra winning in a third set tiebreak. Llodra will face handsome Spanish player Fernando Verdasco in the second round.
Last week’s finalist American Mardy Fish, who has a bye in the first round will face former world number three Nikolay Davydenko, who downed Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2 7-6 (5).
World No. 9 Tomas Berdych is the only player so far to advance into the third round. Berdych was too good for Argentinian Juan Monaco. The Czech player will now face the winner of Nicolas Almagro and Ivo Karlovic. Almagro overcame Albert Montanes of Spain 7-6 (5) 6-4 and Karlovic breezed past Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-1 6-3.
Radek Stepanek, who was the Champion in Washington a couple of weeks ago had to play in the qualifying this week in Cincinnati to earn a spot in the main draw. The former world number eight toughed out a first round win over American John Isner 7-5 5-7 7-6 (4). This was Stepanek’s 300th match win on the ATP Tour. Stepanek has set up a second round match with Stanislas Wawrinka next. Wawrinka needed three sets to win over Andrey Golubev 3-6 6-4 6-1. The winner of Wawrinka and Stepanek will more than likely play World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the next round.
Ivan Dodig of Croatia booked a second round meeting with the number six seed Gael Monfils of France. Dodig sailed past qualifier Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-3 7-6 (3).
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