Black Tennis Pros

Second-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who finished runner-up at the Australian Open final in January, earned a hard-fought 7-6(9), 3-6, 7-6(1), victory over qualifier Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic Wednesday for a place in the Thailand Open quarterfinals.

The 23-year-old Tsonga booked his place in a fourth ATP quarterfinal (or better) on the season after one hour and 59 minutes. The La Rippe, Swiss resident, hit 21 aces and converted two of four break point opportunities in a service-dominated match. The pair had previously met on the ATP Challenger circuit in Rennes two years ago.

Tsonga, who missed three months of the season due to knee surgery, is currently No. 18 in the ATP 2008 Race to Shanghai. He has a 20-9 record on the season, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic) and two semifinal exits at Adelaide (l. to Nieminen) and Casablanca (l. to Simon). The 25-year-old Dlouhy, who was contesting his third ATP singles event this year, has a 2-4 season record.

Another Frenchman, fourth seed Gael Monfils, who could move into the Top 20 of the ATP 2008 Race to Shanghai if he wins the title this week, knocked out American Robert Kendrick 6-4, 7-6(4) in 75 minutes. Monfils had a 5-7 start going into Roland Garros, before turning his season around by reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal (l. to Federer) at Roland Garros, followed by a semifinal run at Nottingham (l. to Karlovic), a quarterfinal at the Beijing Olympics (l. to Djokovic) and fourth round performance at the US Open (l. to Fish). The 22-year-old improved to 21-13 on the season, while World No. 102 Kendrick dropped to 3-8.