French Stars Monfils, Tsonga Reach Marseille QFs

Straight-set wins for French pair

ATP Staff

The top two seeds Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pleased the French crowd on Thursday evening at the Open 13 Marseille as they both advanced to the quarter-finals with straight-sets wins.

Monfils needed just 57 minutes to dismiss qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 6-4. The right-hander dropped just eight points on serve as he set a quarter-final clash with countryman Richard Gasquet. The pair have met 12 times, with Monfils leading their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 7-5.

The 30-year-old Monfils is returning to action this week for the first time since his fourth-round showing at the Australian Open (l. to Nadal). The Frenchman, who qualified for the ATP Finals for the first time last year, is looking to go one better than his run in Marseille in 2015, when he finished runner-up to Gilles Simon.

Second seed Tsonga was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Illya Marchenko, saving all six break points the Ukrainian created to advance in 81 minutes.

Tsonga goes on to face 2015 champion Simon as he bids to win his second ATP World Tour title in as many weeks. The Frenchman is coming off his first title in 17 months after lifting the trophy in Rotterdam last week (d. Goffin).

The 31-year-old Tsonga is a two-time former champion in Marseille, hoisting the trophy in 2009 (d. Llodra) and 2013 (d. Berdych), while also finishing runner-up in 2014 (l. to Gulbis). 

Berdych breezes through in Dubai

Berdych breezes through in Dubai

by Jawad Bisharat, Firstserveace.com


Berdych breezed through the second round in Dubai Tennis Championships with a straight set victory Stakhovsky 6-2 6-1. With a 1st serve percentage at 80% along with 15 winners, Berdych out powered his opponent. Burdych will next face Tsonga in the quarter-finals. Tsonga advanced by walkover when Russian Davydenko withdrew with injury... Seems to be a common theme with Davydenko of late. 

Berdych said of Tsonga "Tsonga's a very tough opponent. He's really solid, an established player from the top 10. He really likes very fast conditions. It's something that really suits his game. All the matches that we have played were close, always a big battle. I'm really looking forward to that"

Berdych is taking a lot of momentum into next months BNP Paribas Open in Indian Well, CA. Berdych is coming off his first ATP victory in nearly two years and appears to be peaking at the right time. 

With two Masters Tournaments approaching he will need good results to carry him through the clay-court season where he will have a tougher go of it.