PARIS — Home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame compatriot Julien Benneteau 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (2) on Tuesday to reach the third round of the Paris Masters.
Report by Supersport
The 2008 champion needed nearly two- and a half hours to get past Benneteau and was forced into a final-set tie-breaker after failing to serve out the match.
Benneteau only converting three of his 11 break points against the hard-serving Tsonga, who hit a total of 15 aces — five in each set. Fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic also reached the third round after beating Andreas Seppi 7-6 (8), 6-2.
After a closely fought first set, Berdych took firm control of the match by jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the second.
Three other Frenchmen won in the first round, all against Spaniards. Jeremy Chardy cruised past Guillermo Garcia Lopez 6-0, 6-3, Paul-Henri Mathieu beat Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4, 7-5 and Michael Llodra defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-3.
However, Benoit Paire lost 7-6 (2), 6-2 to 15th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan in the second round.
