Marseille, France – Top-seeded former champion Jo-Wilfried round winner Wednesday at the Open 13 tennis event.
The 2009 Marseille titlist trounced fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-2 on the indoor hardcourts at Palais des Sports.
Tsonga will face another compatriot, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, in Friday's quarterfinals. Roger-Vasselin dismantled Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-3, 6-0 on Day 3.
Meanwhile, third-seeded world No. 9 Serb Janko Tipsarevic eased into the quarters with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Belgian qualifier David Goffin.
In some opening-round action on Wednesday, sixth-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov overcame Czech Lukas Rosol 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 and French left- hander Michael Llodra snuck past Swiss Marco Chiudinelli in a pair of tiebreaks, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3). Llodra titled here in 2010 and was the Marseille runner-up in 2009.
Second-seeded American Mardy Fish and fourth-seeded former world No. 4 Argentine Juan Martin del Potro will see second-round action here on Thursday. The former U.S. Open champion and last week's Rotterdam runner-up del Potro will battle former world No. 3 Russian Nikolay Davydenko on Day 4.
The newest Marseille champ will collect $120,000.