Tsonga and Gasquet proceed to third round

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 and set up a match against either No. 9 Marin Cilic of Croatia or big-serving Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

“It’s never easy playing against Janko. I played him three times before, always losing in close matches” Nikolay Davydenko

“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 only playing 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.”

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, who faces either Florian Mayer or Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round.

“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.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who drew a crowd for a practice session on an outside court, was to announce if he will play after recently twisting his ankle.