Tsonga, del Potro win French Open openers; Roddick, Melzer ousted

Roland Garros—Paris, France

Hometown favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed four sets before securing a second-round place at the French Open on Sunday. Defeating Andrey Kuznetsov 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, Tsonga reached the second-round or better at the event for the fourth straight year.

Coming in as the No. 5 seed this year, Tsonga will next face Cedrik-Marcel Stebe for a place in the third-round.

Elsewhere, former US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro struggled with a recent knee injury put prevailed in four sets over competent clay-court player Albert Montanes, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-1.

Del Potro, who reached the semifinals in Paris back in 2009, will next face Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

In seeded upsets that occured on Sunday, former world No. 1 Andy Roddick was ousted by Nicolas Mahut, 6-3 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, and former semifinalist Jurgen Melzer lost to Michael Berrer 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

Fernando Verdasco, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Fabio Fognini prevented the upset bug by reaching the second round.

Monday’s action in Paris will feature Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

French Open 2012: Men’s and Women’s singles draws

The draws for the 2012 French Open can be found at the links below.

Link: Men’s singles draw

Link: Women’s singles draw

French Open men’s and women’s qualifying draws

The French Open men’s and women’s qualifying draws can be found at the links below. The main draw for the year’s second major begins on Monday May 28, 2012.

Link: Men’s qualifying draw

Link: Women’s qualifying draw