Tsonga put to the test in opening round – Almagro done in Beijing

Written by: Resendiz on 4th October 2011

Tsonga put to the test in opening round – Almagro done in Beijing

Nicolas Almagro of Spain hits a return to Julien Benneteau of France during their first round match on the third day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 31 August 2011. The US Open runs through 11 September 2011. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT |

Spaniard Nicolas Almagro lost in the first round today against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the China Open in Beijing 6-3 6-2.

Youzhny a former Top 10 player is No. 37 on the ranking this week. Almagro is yet to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. He is currently number nine in the race and only the top eight players will qualify. The Russian faces Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the second round. Lopez defeated qualifier Marcel Ilhan of Turkey 6-2 7-6 yesterday.

South African Kevin Anderson who took out the number six seed Andy Roddick in the first round on Monday will play Albert Montanes of Spain in his second round. Montanes overcame Paul Capdeville in straight sets.

Germany’s Phillip Kohlschreiber had a great win over Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-3 7-6 (0). Kohlschreiber, who had to qualify to gain a spot in the main draw converted all three of his break points in the match. The German will play No.3 seed Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic or Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the second round.

Frenchman Jo-Wifried Tsonga was put to the test today by Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. Tsonga had to play two long sets winning 7-6 (5) 7-5 before he shook off the Bulgarian in one hour and 48 minutes.

“For me it was difficult to play Grigor because he’s a really good player. For the first round, it was not easy. Today for me I didn’t move really well. I didn’t hit the ball really good, but I was on the court with my head and I did it,” Tsonga said.

Jo-Wilfried’s next opponent is Chinese wildcard Ze Zhang who defeated fellow Chinese and wildcard player Zhe Li 6-1 6-3.

Top seeds in the doubles Bob and Mike Bryan are back after their first round shock defeat at the US Open to Ivo Karlovic and Frank Moser.

The Bryan twins cruised past Lukas Dlouhy and Alexander Dolgopolov in their opening round. Tomas Berdych and Florian Mayer will be next for Bob and Mike. Berdych and Mayer had a straight set win over experienced Polish doubles team Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

The number three seeds Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic had a 6-3 6-3 win over wildcard pairing Rik De Voest and Ashley Fisher.