Dubai: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the last of the seeds to enter the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open at the Dubai Tennis Stadium late on Tuesday.
Seeded No.5, Tsonga was in perfect stride for a 6-2, 6-4 win over Romanian Victor Hanescu to book a second round meeting with Nikolay Davydenko of Russia on Wednesday.
The Frenchman was the last of the seeds coming through unscathed into the second round after second seed Juan Martin del Potro had retired earlier in the evening with a wrist injury after losing the first set 6-7 against Indian wild card Somdev Devvarman.
Earlier, third seed Tomas Berdych had booked his place against Sergiy Stakhovsky from the Ukraine. Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic came in later and dispatched off Uzbek Denis Istomin in straight sets to set a meeting with Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
Sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny also moved in for a second round meeting against wild card James Ward with a clinical 6-3, 6-4 win over Teymuraz Gabashvili.
Five-time winner and No.4 Roger Federer, No.7 Philipp Kohlschreiber and No.8 Dmitry Tursunov had all eased into the second round on the opening day on Monday.
All eight second round matches will be played on Wednesday with play commencing at 2 pm with Indian Devvarman taking on the Arab world’s top player Malek Jaziri. The late evening session that starts at 7 pm will see Federer in action against Radek Stepanek, followed by Djokovic taking on Bautista Agut.
