Sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet advanced to the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday. Tsonga beat Russian veteran Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(3), 6-2, while Gasquet had a little more trouble overcoming Benoit Paire 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.
No.8 Janko Tipsarevic wasn’t as fortunate, losing to Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-6(3), 6-1.
Gasquet broke Paire twice in the third set to close it out.
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“That was an important match to win,” said Gasquet, who is still bothered by a sore ankle that forced him to skip France’s Davis Cup quarterfinal loss to Argentina recently. “I’m happy I won the first round because now I’m playing only on Thursday.”
Paire levelled the match when he broke Gasquet with a superb cross-court backhand pass, and then served out the set.
“For sure, he played better than me in the second set: I lost five games in a row,” Gasquet said. “He was being more aggressive and I was playing a little bit short.”
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Dimitrov had seven aces and broke Tipsarevic’s serve four times.
“It’s never easy playing against Janko. I played him three times before, always losing in close matches,” said Dimitrov.
“I fought until the last point in the first set. I gained an extra edge as the match goes on.”
Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany also advanced to the third round, while Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, Marinko Matosevic of Australia and qualifier Albert Ramos of Spain advanced to the second round.
The results:
Second round: Grigor Dimitrov bt Janko Tipsarevic 7-6(3), 6-1; Richard Gasquet bt Beniot Paire 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Pablo Andujar 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(3); Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(3), 6-2; .
First round: Juan Monaco bt Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-0; Kevin Anderson bt Jerzy Janowicz 7-5, 7-6(9); Jurgen Melzer bt Jesse Huta Galung 1-6, 6-3, 6-2; Albert Montanes bt Gael Monfils 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Albert Ramos bt Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3.
Stanislas Wawrinka bt Denis Istomin 6-3, 7-5; Marinko Matosevic bt Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-3; Victor Hanescu bt Marcel Granollers 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-1; Florian Mayer bt Benjamin Balleret 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
Marin Cilic bt Horacio Zeballos 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2.