Marseille, France – In a rematch of last year's final, Argentine slugger Juan Martin del Potro once again beat French crowd favorite Michael Llodra at the $700,000 Open 13 tennis event.
The second-seeded del Potro, fresh off his indoor title in Rotterdam last week, came from behind Thursday to best the veteran left-hander Llodra 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in a second-round affair on the indoor surface at Palais des Sports. Del Potro moved on in 2 hours, 32 minutes with the help of 14 aces.
Llodra titled here in 2010, lost to the former U.S. Open champion del Potro in last year's final, and was also a Marseille runner-up in 2009.
An upset saw Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov take out fourth-seeded world No. 9 Serbian star Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, while sixth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon avoided an upset by leveling Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-1. The former top-10 star Simon captured this event back in 2007.
Also, 6-foot-8 seventh-seeded rising Pole Jerzy Janowicz dismissed 2010 Marseille runner-up Julien Benneteau, of France, 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 in Thursday's nightcap.
Friday's quarterfinals will pit top-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych against Janowicz; del Potro versus Simon; third-seeded French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against promising Aussie Bernard Tomic; and Tursunov versus Luxembourg's Gilles Muller.
The former Australian Open runner-up Tsonga captured this event back in 2009.
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