• Monte Carlo Masters

Composed Cilic through in Monaco

Marin Cilic was a picture of composure against Igor Andreev © Getty Images

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Marin Cilic was relieved to have won the "mental battle" during his 6-7(4) 6-1 6-4 victory against Igor Andreev in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Fourth seed Cilic was never close to his best form, but he regularly displayed calmness under pressure to fight back from difficult situations.

This was most in evidence during the exchange of service games. On four occasions, Andreev claimed a break - only for Cilic to break back in the following game.

Throughout the contest, Cilic looked every inch a man who has won two titles this year as he coped comfortably with shifts of momentum.

Afterwards, Cilic paid tribute to his ability to keep his composure in testing circumstances. "I just wanted to stay in it after losing that first set by making him play a lot of shots. Afterwards I found some solutions so I could win easier points and win the mental battle," he said.

Fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had to dig deep to battle past Nicolas Almagro. In his first ever appearance in Monte Carlo, the world No. 10 produced an impressive performance to get the better of the Spaniard 7-6(5) 7-5.

Almagro came out of the blocks and the Frenchman had to battle hard to hold his early service games in the first set, before edging the tie-break. Almagro only converted one of 11 break point opportunities, but Tsonga edged it, taking two of his four chances.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was delighted to battle past Nicolas Almagro © Getty Images

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"I just played my best tennis today," he told Sky Sports. "It was my first time on the rock and I'm just happy to win today. I changed racquets this year and I felt better with this one on clay - I think that was my best match on clay."

Elsewhere in the second round, sixth seed Fernando Verdasco demolished Julien Benneteau 6-2 6-1 in 74 minutes. Benneateau got off to an inauspicious start - losing his second service game - from which he was unable to recover, as a ruthless Verdasco pounced on every opportunity he was offered. He will now face the in-form Tomas Berdych, who enjoyed a comfortable 6-2 6-0 victory over Richard Gasquet.

In the first round, Tommy Robredo took apart Horacio Zeballos' serve to claim four breaks in his 6-3 6-3 win. No. 12 seed Robredo paid the Zeballos second serve no respect as he unleashed a glut of powerful returns on his way to victory. In the next round Robredo will take on Viktor Troicki, who defeated Lukasz Kubot 4-6 6-2 6-2.

Spain's Albert Montanes got the better of No. 16 seed Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 6-2, while Dutch qualifier Thiemo de Bakker earned himself a second-round clash against five-time defending champion Rafael Nadal after defeating Argentina's Eduardo Schwank 6-3 7-5.

Other first-round winners included Stanislas Wawrinka, Florent Serra, Michael Llodra and Jurgen Melzer.

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