
Tsonga, Ljubicic, Becker, Montanes advance to second round at Lyon Grand Prix
Published Tuesday October 27th, 2009


LYON, France - Top - seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga served 14 aces and needed two tiebreakers to beat Kevin Kim of the United States 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in the first round of the Lyon Grand Prix on Tuesday.
Neither player faced a break point in the first set, but Kim saved two in the second as Tsonga started to get on top.
Kim missed his chance to even the match as Tsonga, the 2008 Australian Open finalist, rallied from 5-3 down in the second-set tiebreaker.
Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia also moved on after beating Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina 6-3, 6-4.
Ljubicic, looking for his first title this season, won 29 of 33 points on first serve including seven aces.
Seventh-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany beat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-2, 6-2, while No. 8 Albert Montanes of Spain topped Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-4. The 36-year-old Frenchman is playing his final season on the ATP circuit.
Also, David Guez of France beat Rajeev Ram of the United States 6-2, 6-4, and Marc Gicquel downed Jerome Haehnel 6-1, 6-4 in an all-French match.
Gicquel, runner-up in 2006 and 2007 at the indoor hard-court tournament, saved the only break point he faced. He next plays either sixth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France or Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.
Michael Llodra of France defeated Lamine Ouahab of Algeria 6-1, 6-2, and Kevin Anderson of South Africa beat Simon Greul of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3).




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