Men’s First Round Nears Finish; Tsonga, Berdych Advance

Written by: Resendiz on 5th October 2011

Men’s First Round Nears Finish; Tsonga, Berdych Advance

France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga hits a return to Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov during their men's singles tennis match at the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Stadium court in Beijing, China on 04 October 2011. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

Approaching the end of ten scheduled men’s singles matches on Tuesday the second round tournament field is nearly set.

In an afternoon match at Diamond Court, top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France advanced in straight sets 7-6(5), 7-5, beating Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov with a leaping forehand smash to end the match. Tsonga advances to play Zhang Ze of China who defeated Zhe Li, also of China, in early play Tuesday.

Three-seed Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also advanced on Diamond Court Tuesday beating Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 7-5. Berdych will play Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who defeated Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-3, 7-6(0), Tuesday afternoon.

In action on Lotus Court, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia upset No. 4 seed Nicholas Almagro of Spain in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Youzhny advances to face Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who beat Marsel Ilhan of Turkey, on Monday.

Also happening Tuesday, Albert Montanes of Spain beat Paul Capdeville of Chile, 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round match with South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who defeated sixth seed Andy Roddick Monday night.

Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia defeated Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili advancing to play Florian Mayer of Germany and Italian Fabio Fognini defeated Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja on Tuesday. Fogini will meet Marin Cilic of Croatia in the second round. Cilic defeated Wu Di, of China, on Monday.

By Danny Matteson

(Courtesy of China Open)