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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga charged into the quarter-finals of the Japan Open. The second seed defeated Richard Gasquet by 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
The 2008 Australian Open finalist was unexpectedly joined in the last eight by unheralded compatriot Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who followed up his first-round dismissal of top-seeded US Open winner Juan Del Potro with a comeback over Austrian Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych defeated German Andreas Beck by 6-4, 6-1.Australian eighth seed Lleyton Hewitt crushed French veteran Fabrice Santoro by 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Tsonga, who lost in last week's Bangkok semi-finals as he began his autumn Asian run said, “I’m happy with the win today. It was difficult to play in the wind.At one point an advertising sign blew across the court. It could have been dangerous."
Tsonga said he dealt with the challenging conditions better than Gasquet, who still leads the series 4-3.
"Richard is from the south of France, where there is a lot of wind," he said.
"But I served better than him today that was the difference. It's always a pleasure to play him, but it all changes when we go on court. We have to play and that's it.”
"I hope to keep up this level; I'm working to win the tournament," said the winner of Marseille and Johannesburg titles earlier in the year.”
Eighth seed Hewitt defeated 36-year-old Santoro in just 2 hours .Santoro is left with only a handful of tournaments before he wraps up his two-decade career at Paris Bercy next month.
Hewitt said after nudging ahead 3-2 in the series which began nine years ago in Cincinnati,"We've had some tough matches in the past. Fabrice plays well on this surface.”
"I was expecting a battle, but it was nice to get away with a win."
