Tsonga survives second round thriller in Thailand

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (pictured) and Gael Monfils, both incredibly exciting young French players to watch, earned second round victories to advance to the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open in Bangkok.

No. 2 seed Tsonga, the Australian Open runner-up in January, held off well respected doubles player Lukas Dlouhy, 7-6(9), 3-6, 7-6(1), in roughly two hours to advance. Tsonga smashed an astonishing 21 aces to only two double faults, while breaking the Czech’s serve twice on four occasions. Currently ranked No. 18 in the world, Tsonga earned his 20th win of the year. The young Frenchman missed three months of the season due to knee surgery.

Monfils, a Roland Garros semifinalist this spring despite starting the year 5-7, beat American Robert Kendrick, 6-4, 7-6(4), in 75 minutes to advance to his fourth quarterfinal of the year. Despite only four aces, a low return percentage, which included winning only 26 percent of first serve return points, Monfils was able to break the hard hitting Americans serve on three occasions. Monfils improves his 2008 record to 21-13, while Kendrick leaves Bangkok with a dreadful 3-8 record. In the quarterfinals, Monfils will face either Russian Mischa Zverev or German Philipp Petzschner, who are set to do battle on Thursday.

No. 5 seed Jarkko Nieminen and No. 8 Jurgen Melzer were the last seeds to play their first round matches, but both were victorious.

Nieminen defeated Novak Djokovic’s little brother Marko and ruined his ATP Tour main draw debut with an easy, 6-2, 6-0, victory. Nieminen will face Frenchman Nicolas Mahut for a spot in the semifinals. The Finland native owns a 2-1 series lead over Mahut, with both of his wins coming on hard courts, most recently in 2007 at the Marseille, France event.

Melzer, who was fresh off a plane from London, where he was playing Davis Cup for his native Austria against host Great Britain, stayed strong throughout his contest against American Donald Young, winning easily, 6-3, 6-3. In the 70-minute match, Melzer lost only five first serve points. Melzer will take on steady Serbian player Viktor Troicki for a spot in the quarterfinals.