Tsonga sees off Alves

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:17

The top-seeded Frenchman had little trouble against Thiago Alves of Brazil and prevailed 6-4 6-1 in 58 minutes.

Second seed David Ferrer of Spain was equally impressive in round two, dropping just two games as he walked all over Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-2 6-0, while seventh-seeded Kristof Vliegen was pushed hard by British qualifier Ross Hutchins before coming through in straight sets.

South Africa’s best chance of success, Kevin Anderson, put up a strong showing but was not good enough to beat Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic – going down 7-6 (7/4) 6-4.

The home favourite, the only local player to qualify automatically for the main draw, stayed with the world number 93 through the opening set before eventually losing out in the tie break.

He was equally impressive in the second set but conceded one break point that proved decisive.

Elsewhere, qualifier Marco Chiudinelli from Switzerland took just under two and a half hours to see off Italian Flavio Cipolla 7-5 1-6 6-4.

The victory was a first in 2009 for the 27-year-old, who will next face fifth seed Jeremy Chardy. The Frenchman was too strong for Czech player Jiri Vanek winning 6-0 6-4 in just over an hour.

Portuguese Frederico Gil is also through to round two after easing his way past Austria’s Daniel Kollerer 6-4 6-0. Up next for the world number 99 is South African Rik de Voest, who upset sixth seed Ivan Navarro on day one.

Finally, Denis Istomin fought back from a set down to beat Santiago Ventura 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7/3) in a match that lasted two hours 10 minutes. The man from Uzbekistan’s reward for overcoming his Spanish opponent is a second-round encounter against Tsonga on Thursday.

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