PARIS, May 27 (Reuters) – Local favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
overcame a sluggish start to advance into the second round of
the French Open with a 1-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 victory against
unheralded Russian Andrey Kuznetsov on Sunday.
World number 159 Kuznetsov, who had not played a single
match on the main tour this year, caught the fifth-seeded Tsonga
snoozing on Court Philippe Chatrier and bagged five games in a
row to claim the opening set.
Tsonga, who last week said no Frenchman could win Roland
Garros this year, made sure he would not endure a nightmare
outing on the first day of his home slam and eventually crushed
the 21-year-old Kuznetsov with some devastating forehand
winners.
He will next face German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
