Tennis: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eases through to last eight in Marseille

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the quarter-finals of the Open 13 in Marseille by beating Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-2 yesterday.

The top-seeded Frenchman did not face any break points, winning 36 of his 41 service points. Tsonga took a 3-0 lead in the first set and broke Mahut twice in the second.

He will next play Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who defeated Flavio Cipolla of Italy 6-3, 6-0. Roger-Vasselin won the last eight games and broke Cipolla three times in each set.

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In the first-round matches completed yesterday, Alexandr Dolgopolov rallied to beat Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3. The sixth-seeded Ukrainian broke for a 3-1 lead in the final set and will now face Michael Llodra of France, who defeated Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3). Llodra, a 2010 champion, fired down 12 aces.

On the women’s circuit, meanwhile, US Open champion Sam Stosur advanced to the third round of the Dubai Tennis Championships by defeating Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1. The fourth-seeded Australian broke twice in both the first and third sets, and saved all nine break points she faced in the match.

Caroline Wozniacki also advanced after the third-seeded Danish player opened her title defence by beating Romania’s Simona Halep 6-2, 6-3.

Wozniacki, who was ranked No 1 in the world until Victoria Azarenka unseated her last month by winning the Australian Open in Melbourne, will next face Ana Ivanovic after the Serbian player yesterday defeated Maria Kirilenko of Russia, 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Earlier in the day, top-ranked Azarenka pulled out of the Dubai tournament because of a left ankle injury. The Australian Open champion, who has won 17 straight matches so far this season, says she will rest for two or three days. “Obviously it’s very disappointing, but, I mean, it’s life. It’s sport. I just have to take care of it and that’s it,” Azarenka said. “I take a couple of days off just to see and hopefully it will settle down. ... But it has to be taken care of right away.”

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