Berdych, Tsonga win Rotterdam openers

Published January 08, 2015

Rotterdam, The Netherlands (SportsNetwork.com) - Former Grand Slam runners-up Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were among Monday's first-round winners at the $1.85 million ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

The third-seeded Berdych blew past Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3, while the fifth-seeded 2011 Rotterdam finalist Tsonga overcame German Florian Mayer 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on the indoor hardcourts at Ahoy Rotterdam.

Also on Day 1, German Philipp Kohlschreiber handled Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 7-5, German qualifier Michael Berrer outlasted Dutch wild card Jesse Huta Galung 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, and French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu came back to beat Croat Ivan Dodig 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

This week's top seeds are reigning Rotterdam champion and former U.S. Open winner Juan Martin del Potro and reigning Wimbledon titlist and 2009 Rotterdam champ Andy Murray. Del Potro will open his week against last week's Montpellier champ Gael Monfils, while Murray will encounter France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the round of 32.

Del Potro defeated Frenchman Julien Benneteau in last year's Rotterdam finale and was the runner-up here in 2012.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/berdych-tsonga-win-rotterdam-openers