Jo Wilfried Tsonga beat Florian Mayer 6-3 6-2 to cruise into the second round at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, the penultimate Masters 1000 Tournament of the year. The Frenchman, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the Shanghai final last year, has extended his win-loss record against Mayer to 6-0. He saved the five break points he faced.
Tsonga earned his first break point in the fourth game of the opening set but Mayer saved them. The Frenchman broke serve with two backhand returns in the eighth game and served out for the first set 6-3 after 36 minutes. The number 9 seed hit 15 winners to 16 unforced errors.
Mayer held his first service game before Tsonga got two consecutive breaks to cruise to 6-2 after 71 minutes. The tennis player from Le Mans will take on Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Phillip Kohlschreiber 6-2 6-4.
Tsonga made a successful come-back from a knee injury which forced him to withdraw from the quarter match against Novak Djokovic at the US Open.
Another Frenchman Benoit Paire overcame Joao Sousa 6-3 5-7 6-1. Paire got a double break in the seventh and ninth games to win the first set. Sousa and Paire traded breaks in the first two games of the second set. Sousa earned two consecutive breaks in the third and fifth games. Paire got both breaks back to draw level to 4-4. Sousa got the decisive break to 30 in the 11th game and served out for the second set to 30. Paire got the double break in the second and fourth games to cruise through to a comfortable 6-1 in the third set.
Steve Johnson beat Martin Klizan 6-4 6-3 to set up a second round match against Wimbledon and Olympic Games champion Andy Murray. Misha Zverev, elder brother of Alexander Zverev, eased through Ze Zhang 6-1 6-2. Vasek Pospisil beat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 setting up a second-round match against either Richard Gasquet or last week’s Beijing finalist Grigor Dimitrov.
Chinese wild card and Shanghai resident Wu Di battled past Pablo Cuevas 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-2). Wu broke serve seven times (including five in the third set). Both players traded breaks ten times in the decider.
Nicolas Almagro came back from one set down to beat Mikhail Youzhny 3-6 6-2 6-2. The Spanish player broke five times and hit nine aces. Youzhny won the first set 6-3 with one break in the second game. Both players traded breaks in the first two games of the second set. Almagro broke twice in the sixth and eighth games to wrap up the second set 6-2. The Spanish player earned two more breaks in the second and eighth games to close out the decider 6-2.
