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Tsonga through as Tipsarevic tumbles

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was able to relax once he claimed the opening set © Getty Images

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put on a confident display to reach the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters, but eighth-seed Janko Tipsarevic suffered an early exit after falling to Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets.

Tsonga, whose best performance at this event came in 2012 where he reached the quarter-finals, edged out former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(3) in the opening set as both players broke the serve of one another once.

With the first set tiebreak going the way of Tsonga, the resistance of Davydenko disappeared as more errors crept into his game, enabling Tsonga to clinch the second set 6-2.

Tipsarevic failed to make it through the second round after a straight-sets defeat to Dimitrov.

Dimitrov took the opening set 7-6(3) on a tiebreak as both players won six service games, before completing the victory with a commanding performance to take the second set 6-1 and advance to the third round.

Juan Martin Del Potro dug extremely deep to remain in the tournament, coming from behind to overcome Alexandr Dolgopolov 1-6 6-4 6-3.

The big Argentinian dropped serve twice in the opening set to trail the Ukrainian, but the former US Open champion overturned a break in the second set to clinch it, and was able to close out the win by taking the deciding set.

Richard Gasquet moved into the third round with a 6-1 3-6 6-1 victory over fellow Frenchman Benoit Paire. The seventh-seed spent just shy of 90 minutes on court, dominating the first set before Paire responded to level. However, the world No. 9 proved too good in the decider to book his spot in the next round.

Thirteenth-seed Stanislas Wawrinka enjoyed a straight-sets victory over world No. 48 Denis Istomin. The Swiss No. 2 advanced 6-3 7-5 in just over an hour on court, and will now play Albert Montanes after he upset Gael Monfils 6-2 2-6 6-4.

Elsewhere, world No. 31 Fernando Verdasco suffered a shock opening round defeat to Australian Marinko Matosevic. Verdasco went down 5-7 3-6 to 54-ranked Matosevic in less than two hours at the Monte Carlo Country Club. Matosevic now faces Rafael Nadal in the second round.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic meanwhile has told organisers he will be taking part in this year's event.

There were doubts as to whether the Serb would play in the event after he suffered an ankle injury whilst playing in the Davis Cup last week. However, the Australian Open champion was practicing on Tuesday, and is set to face Mikhail Youzhny in the second round on Wednesday.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.