Tsonga Outlasts Carreno Busta In Monte-Carlo Opener

Eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came through a tough opener on Tuesday evening, beating Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(1), 7-6(5) to reach the third round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.

The Frenchman served for the match at 6-5 in the second set, but the resilient Carreno Busta fought back to force a tie-break. Tsonga rallied from a 3-5 deficit in the tie-break to claim victory in just over two hours.

The 30-year-old Tsonga claimed his 12^th win of the season, highlighted by reaching the semi-finals in Auckland (l. to Bautista Agut) and the quarter-finals in Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic). He enjoyed his best result at the Monte-Carlo Country Club three years ago, when he beat Stan Wawrinka en route to the semi-finals (l. to Nadal).

In an all-Italian first-round clash, Paolo Lorenzi rallied from a set down to beat Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 in 82 minutes. Lorenzi goes on to face Gael Monfils. Monfils leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 1-0.